New Delhi: At least half of the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) office-bearers, including those in its national working committee, have had some past association with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Asked by ThePrint about his past association with the AAP, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said he was a part of the party but has no connection with it anymore.
Dipke’s AAP link has now come back into focus after the CJP released the list of its national working committee. Of the 12 members inducted into the CJP’s core team, six were either directly associated with the AAP or supported it publicly.
AAP spokesperson Sanjeev Jha acknowledged that some of those associated with the CJP had links with the party in the past, but maintained that they had since moved on, and there had been no recent contact. “Yes, there was a link, but no more. They were with the AAP, but recently there was no contact. They went their own ways to find jobs or study.”
ThePrint tracks the CJP core team’s past association with the AAP.
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Abhijeet Dipke (CJP founder): In 2020, Dipke joined the Aam Aadmi Party’s social media team, where he said he developed a style of political messaging built around memes, humour and satire.
His experience with the AAP also gave Dipke early grounding in using social media as a political communication tool—something that later became central to the CJP.
In 2023, Dipke moved to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in public relations in Boston, but continued to follow Indian politics closely. He launched the CJP in May this year and returned to India.
The familiarity between Arvind Kejriwal and Dipke was visible when the former Delhi chief minister visited the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar. The two hugged when they met. AAP sources, however, said the party had extended support to the CJP agitation beyond what was publicly visible, including through volunteers, food and other basic amenities.
Ashutosh Ranka (CJP co-convener): Ranka was an AAP volunteer in Rajasthan. He wrote opinion pieces, participated in TV debates wearing the AAP cap. He has maintained that he was never officially a spokesperson of the party, but said he was volunteering for the AAP and had communicated to the party that he was no longer associated with it.
He met Deepak Baliyan, another member of the CJP’s national working committee, while the latter was organising a protest in Jaipur. In March 2026, Ranka wrote an editorial for ThePrint titled ‘AAP liquor case points to what is missing in India: Accountability’.
Ajinkya Shinde (CJP organisation in-charge): Shinde’s appointment as the CJP’s organisation in-charge raised questions, as his social media pages continue to carry his past affiliation with the AAP, listing him as ‘Ex-Convener – AAP Youth Wing (AYW), Maharashtra’ and ‘Sah Prabhari AAP, Goa’.
His Instagram profile, @ajinkyashinde_aap, is now unavailable. His Facebook page has also been deactivated.
BJP leader Amit Malviya also took a swipe at Shinde’s appointment, posting his photograph with Kejriwal.
Vijay Reddy Malangi (media lead and South zone head): In an interview with local YouTube channel Kranthi TV in November 2025, Malangi was introduced as a spokesperson and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party from Telangana. When ThePrint went through his Facebook profile, it found several posts shared by him in support of the AAP.
In some of them, he was seen wearing the AAP sash and the ‘Anna topi (cap)’.
Malangi also shared a statement criticising Raghav Chadha and the other six AAP parliamentarians who switched to the BJP. He did not comment on his affiliation when reached out via call and text message.
Ankit Bhardwaj (in charge, East and Northeast zones): A 12 May 2017 report in the Hindustan Times identified Bhardwaj as an AAP volunteer associated with the party since 2014, and that he had put his chartered accountancy work on the backburner to work for the party. According to news reports from 2017, he had allegedly attacked Kapil Mishra while the politician, by then sacked as a minister by Kejriwal, was sitting on dharna.
A video available on YouTube, titled “Ankit Bhardwaj ke 2 shabd Kapil Mishra jaise dokhebaazon ke liye (Ankit Bhardwaj’s comments on traitors like Kapil Mishra)”, shows him speaking in support of the Aam Aadmi Party. In the video, he addresses AAP volunteers and says: “Main apne Aam Aadmi Party ke saathiyon ko ek baat kehna chahta hoon; niraash mat hona, hum aaj bhi vohi party hai jo 3 saal pehle thi, ye party bauhat aage jaayegi.”
(I want to tell my fellow Aam Aadmi Party members one thing: do not be disappointed. We are still the same party that we were three years ago, and this party will go very far.)
According to the Delhi Police, as reported by Hindustan Times, Bhardwaj had gone to meet Mishra to question him over his criticism of the AAP and Arvind Kejriwal. Mishra and his supporters alleged that Bhardwaj had attacked him. Bhardwaj, however, told the police that he had only been gesturing with his hands during the argument and denied hitting Mishra.
Saurav Das (co-convener): Das is an investigative journalist who frequently tweeted and retweeted content in support of the Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders.
His admiration for Arvind Kejriwal and several AAP leaders was visible through his social media activity, leading to questions about his political leanings.
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What does the overlap mean
As of now, the CJP calls itself a pressure group and has continued to reiterate that it does not intend to enter electoral politics.
Political analyst and Delhi University professor of political science Chandrachud Singh told ThePrint that the overlap between the two organisations was not surprising given the similarity in their style of politics and Dipke’s own past association with the AAP.
“The fact of the matter is that the Aam Aadmi Party is also kind of something which does this kind of educational politics, right? And agitation politics and the politics of the street, in the way that was done during the Anna movement. AAP is known for this,” he said.
Adding, “The fact that Dipke himself came from that party means that he must be having some connects and some contacts in the party. So there would be people who might be sulking in the AAP or may not be in the mainstream of its organisation. Therefore, Dipke will offer them some chances, and they will be happy to grab those opportunities.”
Singh also said, “It is very clear that the CJP did get support, and you would see that some of the early political leaders who went and met him, I think Kejriwal was one of those, isn’t it? And not only Kejriwal, but I think other members of his party were also there.”
“The bonhomie between the Aam Aadmi Party and the leadership of CJP — the CJP in itself, the organisational part, is quite closer to the AAP and therefore there would be a movement to and fro. I don’t see that not happening,” he added.
Former AAP spokesperson Ashutosh, meanwhile, said the members who had previously been associated with the party should be seen as having made a break with it.
“Since they have decided to form CJP and become its office-bearers, that means they are having a clean break from the AAP and are not happy with the way the AAP is working. They may have had some idealism and hope in the AAP, but over a period of time they felt disillusioned with the party and the political establishment. However, it would be wrong to understand CJP as being launched or propelled by the AAP,” he told ThePrint.
AAP spokesperson Sanjeev Jha, too, acknowledged that some CJP members had previously been associated with the party, but said they had since moved on.
“Yes, there was a link, but no more. They were with the AAP, but recently there was no contact. They went their own ways to find jobs or study,” Jha said.
Who are the others?
The other members of the CJP’s 12-member core team come from varied professional and activist backgrounds.
Deepak Baliyan (organisation co-in charge and North zone head): A political science post-graduate from Alwar, Rajasthan, and has been involved in agrarian movements. He was also involved in organising the CJP’s Jaipur protest and had met Ashutosh Ranka while organising a protest in the city.
Aafreen Nawaz (national secretary): A Bengaluru-based entrepreneur with an MBA who left the corporate sector to work on issues concerning students and young people.
Ratna Singh (legal affairs): A lawyer from Lucknow who has been one of the CJP’s more visible faces, particularly on legal issues involving protesters.
Vaishnavi Gaur (research & policy lead): A lawyer from Dehradun who has emerged as one of the CJP’s prominent spokespersons, regularly speaking about the organisation’s demands and responding to criticism of the movement.
Rohan Deshpande (technology lead): Based in Mumbai, he has a background in hotel management from IHM Mumbai. He has also written on political and social issues.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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