BJP Assigns Key 2027 Punjab Poll Roles To Former AAP Leaders Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak

Punjab Polls 2027: Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon on Sunday constituted a state manifesto committee and a "chargesheet" committee ahead of the 2027 state assembly elections, featuring turncoats from the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress. Punjab's ruling party AAP's founding member Raghav Chadha, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, key strategist of Kejriwal's party Sandeep Pathak, and businessman Ashok Mittal are the key highlights in the BJP's poll panels.

Who Are Members Of BJP's Manifesto Committee?

Senior BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna will head the party's manifesto committee, while other BJP leaders -- Manpreet Singh Badal, Ashwani Sharma, Manoranjan Kalia, Som Parkash, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Ashwani Sekhri, Satnam Singh Sandhu, Raghav Chadha, Rajinder Gupta, Harbhajan Singh, Parampal Kaur and HS Phoolka will be its members.

ALSO READ: Punjab Polls 2027: Congress Forms 4-Member Committee To Prevent Resentment Among Leaders Over Turncoats

Ex-Punjab Congress Chief Jakhar To Head BJP's Chargesheet Committee

Former Congress Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar has been appointed chairman of the "chargesheet" committee. The members of this committee include Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Vijay Sampla, Shwet Malik, Maharani Preneet Kaur, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Dinesh Babbu, Sushil Rinku, Geja Ram, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, SS Channi and Jagmeet Singh Brar.

By including senior leaders in the manifesto committee, the party has brought together their experience and representation from various fields for preparing its election manifesto, the BJP said, adding that similarly, senior leaders have also been included in the "chargesheet" committee and entrusted with a distinct responsibility.

ALSO READ: Punjab Polls: Key Challenges For Arvind Kejriwal And Bhagwant Mann's AAP In Assembly Elections 2027

Chadha and Pathak's Role Likely To Be Crucial

Chadha and Pathak's role is likely to be crucial to counter the ruling party's poll strategy, as both leaders had been key strategists in the last elections for Kejriwal's party. The duo actively chalked out AAP's plan and steered the campaign strategies during the Punjab Assembly elections 2022. Now, the BJP is giving key roles to turncoats who came from the ruling party as they are aware of AAP's functioning and its weaknesses, which BJP takes as an advantage.

Earlier, in April 24 this year, Chadha, along with six Rajya Sabha MPs, revolted against AAP and later, the group of seven MPs merged with the BJP.

(With Agencies Inputs)