Chandigarh: Until last week, 31 year old Gayatri Bishnoi was little known in Punjab. A political functionary from Rajasthan, she had built her public profile largely through the Aam Aadmi Party’s organisation in her home state.
Her name, however, came into focus in Punjab last week when Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira alleged that she was unauthorisedly occupying a government accommodation in Chandigarh, enjoying hospitality at the cost of the state exchequer.
Khaira went on to give the list of at least 10 other persons hired by the AAP government in Punjab for various purposes who are allegedly occupying government houses allotted to Punjab ministers or senior functionaries of the government in the Sector 39 circuit house complex.
Tuesday BJP leader Sunil Jakhar along with his supporters gathered at the gate of the complex to try and gain entry into the complex after he said he had booked a room in the circuit house. However, he told media persons that he was not allowed to enter the complex.
He said at least 18 people who did not belong to Punjab were living in the Circuit House, but he, despite being a Punjabi, was not being allowed to enter.
ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਮੰਤਰੀਆਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਕੋਠੀਆਂ ਤੇ ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਦੇ ਦਿੱਲੀ ਤੋਂ ਕਢੇ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਜਾਇਜ਼ ਕਬਜ਼ੇ ਖਿਲਾਫ ਪ੍ਰਦਰਸ਼ਨ
ਹੁਣ ਫੇਰ ਓਦੋਂ ਬੋਲੇਂਗਾ
ਜਦੋਂ ਆਣ ਧੌਣਾਂ ਤੇ ਚੜ੍ਹਗੇ
ਅੱਖਾਂ ਖੋਲ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਿਆਂ
ਤੇਰੇ ਘਰ ਚ ਲੁਟੇਰੇ ਵੜ ਗਏ@BJP4Punjab @BJP4India pic.twitter.com/7HQJ19gDnF
— Sunil Jakhar (@sunilkjakhar) September 29, 2026
While highlighting the alleged misuse of government funds by the AAP, Khaira had alleged that Bishnoi was staying in a house in Sector 39 government housing complex in which AAP’s Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia lived.
Bishnoi vehemently rejected the allegation, saying she was staying with her parents at another house in the same complex. The house she was living in with her family was allotted to Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh. She even threatened legal action against Khaira, promising to send him to jail. She is learnt to have also given a complaint to the police against Khaira.
Also read: AAP holds protest at GMADA office in Mohali as ED’s searches continue
Who is Gayatri Bishnoi
The controversy has brought attention to the woman behind the name: a former media student and television presenter who moved into fashion entrepreneurship before entering politics and eventually finding a place in the AAP organisation close to its Delhi leadership.
Bishnoi is from the Bhalisar village in Barmer district of Rajasthan. Her father, Biraram Bishnoi, is a retired Army Subedar Major. According to a 2023 interview of her published in a leading Hindi daily, she grew up in Barmer before moving to Jaipur for her studies and career. She has an elder sister and a younger brother.
She studied at Maharani College and then did journalism and mass communication from Amity University Rajasthan from 2014 to 2016. She briefly shifted to Mumbai for an internship in MTV and worked with the team producing MTV Roadies and other shows.
After college, she hosted a television programme on DD Rajasthan, where she interviewed celebrities, senior administrators and artists. She also worked for a brief while for Manish Mundra’s Drisham Films.
In 2018, she started a clothing and fashion boutique “Lush Life” in Jaipur. Her social-media presence from that period shows her promoting clothes designed by her, sometimes using professional models and at other times modelling the clothes herself.
Bishnoi joined the Aam Aadmi Party in March 2023, according to accounts of her political journey. Her early political activity was centred on Rajasthan, where photographs and posts show her attending party meetings, interacting with women workers and participating in organisational programmes.
Her rise within the Rajasthan unit was relatively quick. In one year after joining the AAP, she was formally appointed president of its Rajasthan women’s wing. The post gave her a more visible political platform. She began travelling through Rajasthan, holding meetings with women workers and participating in party programmes. Her social-media activity became an important part of her political profile.
One incident in November 2023 gave her visibility beyond the party organisation. While travelling in a train from Jaipur towards Shri Ganganagar, Bishnoi made a post on X, alleging that passengers were consuming alcohol and misbehaving with other travellers.
Her post was widely circulated, prompting North Western Railway to order its officials to look into the matter. She also complained to railway personnel, and police subsequently intervened. Three passengers were detained in connection with the incident.
By then, Bishnoi was already becoming an increasingly recognisable face of the AAP’s Rajasthan women’s organisation.
After the AAP’s defeat in the 2025 assembly polls in Delhi, like several other AAP leaders, Bishnoi shifted her base to Punjab. Along with three others, she became a part of the Manish Sisodia team.
Although she continued to be associated with Rajasthan, her social-media trail shows her being at the AAP office in Chandigarh from May 2025 onwards. She formally received a Punjab organisational position in September 2025 when the AAP announced four state observers for Punjab: Adil Ahmad Khan, Gayatri Bishnoi, Ritesh Khandelwal and Asit Kumar.
The appointments were made when Manish Sisodia was the party’s Punjab in-charge, and the observers were assigned organisational responsibilities across the state.
For Bishnoi, the appointment marked a transition from being principally a Rajasthan party functionary to becoming a visible part of AAP’s organisational machinery in Punjab.
Since last year, she increasingly appeared at meetings with party workers, office-bearers and local leaders in Ludhiana, Patiala, Kharar and Chandigarh. She participated in booth-level meetings, women’s programmes and organisational gatherings.
Her photographs and posts also show her appearing alongside other leaders at party meetings. She participated in a CJP protest too in Delhi and Punjab.
CJP leader Ashutosh Ranka, who in the past was closely associated with the AAP, has been following her activities in Punjab and liking her work on social media.
She was present in the Punjab assembly the day the budget was presented and congratulated Finance Minister Harpal Cheema for the announcement of payment of Rs 1,000 per month to women in Punjab.
धर्मेंद्र प्रधान इस्तीफ़ा दो! pic.twitter.com/UmrMMaIW6E
— Gayatri bishnoi (गायत्री बिश्नोई)🇮🇳 (@GayatriBishnoi_) June 6, 2026
Following the announcement, she also attended various Mawan-Dhian sanman programmes across Punjab.
In the eye of storm
Her role in Punjab also brought her into the line of attack from the Opposition. Khaira has raised questions about the use of Punjab government resources by AAP functionaries who do not hold elected or ministerial office in the state.
Will the Transport Minister Punjab clarify who authorized the use of Govt Innova car No CH01GA9916 to tainted @GayatriBishnoi_ so called @AamAadmiParty Observer from Rajasthan ?
Are govt vehicles provided to make reels to such irresponsible @AAPPunjab people ?
Isn’t this… pic.twitter.com/LuPMNAKh5Q
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) September 28, 2026
It is still not clear when she shifted into the residence allotted to a Punjab minister in Sector 39 government houses complex. Her birthday celebrations in October 2025 where she is flaunting a choice of half a dozen cakes on a revolving table in the official residence has attracted wide criticism.
👉 Ms Gayatri Bishnoi, you are flaunting six royal cakes on a revolving table inside a government bungalow.
👉 Are you flaunting these six royal cakes over the treatment of your ailing father?
👉 Five to six cakes, a revolving table and “Happy Birthday To Me” in a government… pic.twitter.com/8M1xFNmdxB
— Bikram Singh Majithia (@bsmajithia) September 26, 2026
In August, her entire family is seen celebrating Raakhi at the Chandigarh house. This month she met a host of women AAP leaders in Chandigarh in one of the houses in the Sector 39 government houses complex.
Among the issues Khaira highlighted is the alleged use of Punjab Police security and an official vehicle by Bishnoi for an event of the Bishnoi community in Rajasthan this year.
In what capacity is @GayatriBishnoi_ using Punjab police security while attending functions in Rajasthan ?
Is this bcoz of her close proximity and relations with @msisodia ?
We @INCIndia demand a clarification from @BhagwantMann and @DGPPunjabPolice as to under what category… pic.twitter.com/7JpA0j98II
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) September 26, 2026
While being active in politics, she has also continued to maintain links with her fashion business. Her social-media posts show her participating in events connected with her clothing label at Hawa Mahal in December 2024. A woman AAP MLA from Punjab is also seen patronising Bishnoi’s designer suit collection.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also read: Delhi AAP leaders’ ‘unauthorised’ occupation of ministerial bungalows heats up Punjab politics