Who is Sandeep Pathak? BJP appoints ex-AAP leader as national secretary

Pathak was once a key strategist for the AAP and was considered close to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

He was appointed the AAP's national general secretary in December 2022 and was also sent to the Rajya Sabha by the party that year.

However, Pathak changed his political allegiance after joining the BJP along with six other AAP MPs.

With the Punjab Assembly elections scheduled for 2027, Pathak is expected to play a key role in the BJP's strategy for the state.

In the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, Pathak served as the AAP's principal strategist and played a crucial role in the party's victory. The AAP won 92 of the state's 117 Assembly seats and formed the government under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Sources told The Tribune that Pathak is likely to be a prominent backroom strategist for the BJP in the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.

Following his appointment, Pathak thanked the BJP leadership in a post on X.

"I express my heartfelt gratitude to the top leadership for assigning me the important responsibility of National Minister by the Bharatiya Janata Party," he wrote.

He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, and BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh for entrusting him with the responsibility.

Pathak was born in Bataha village in Mungeli district of Chhattisgarh. He pursued a PhD in high-temperature superconducting materials at the University of Cambridge.

He later undertook postdoctoral research as a research associate at the University of Oxford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Pathak is also a former assistant professor at IIT Delhi.