Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi was the first to make the allegation without naming the AIMIM chief, but Mahua Moitra identified him
NEW DELHI — Former cricketer and Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan is at the centre of a political row after Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi alleged that he was intimidated by a fellow lawmaker during a protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the winter session of Parliament.
In a post on X Monday, Ruhullah said a “prominent Muslim MP, not from TMC,” shouted at Pathan: “What is wrong with you? Why are you protesting against the BJP? Khud ko dushman kyon bana rahe ho? They will bulldoze your house in Gujarat.”
Ruhullah claimed Pathan then withdrew from the protest and “returned to his seat… almost shivering.” He did not name the MP.
The next day, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra identified All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi as the MP in question. “He threatened Yusuf Pathan in Parliament. This is not how colleagues behave,” she posted on X.
Neither Owaisi nor Pathan has publicly responded to the intimidation controversy so far.
The controversy emerged amid reports that 20 rebel TMC MPs plan to merge with the little-known National Citizens Party of India (NCPI).
Yusuf Pathan and his younger brother, Irfan Pathan, made their mark on international cricket. In politics, the elder Pathan pulled off a major upset by defeating five-time Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Baharampur. However, he now faces local backlash for reportedly breaking away from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.
Earlier reports claimed Mamata Banerjee asked Pathan to resign from the Baharampur seat so she could contest a by-poll. Both Pathan and former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly denied the claim. Ganguly called the allegations “in reckless disregard of the truth.”
Pathan has also been accused by Mahua Moitra and fellow TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee of meeting Union Home Minister and senior BJP strategist Amit Shah. Pathan has not commented on the allegation.
Pathan is separately embroiled in a land encroachment case in Vadodara, Gujarat. The case stems from his 2012 application for allotment of a 978 square metre VMC plot in Vadodara’s Tandalja area under a state policy for international sportspersons. The plot sits next to his bungalow.
In 2014, the state government rejected the allotment. But Pathan had already fenced the land and continued occupying it. The Gujarat High Court noted that he “continued to occupy the premises from 2014 onwards… without paying a single penny.”
After he became MP in June 2024, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation issued a notice asking him to vacate what it termed an encroachment. Pathan challenged the notice in the high court.
In August 2025, a single judge upheld the government’s decision and declared him an “encroacher.” Justice Mauna Bhatt observed: “Being a celebrity and a parliamentarian, Pathan owes more responsibilities to society.”
Earlier this month, a division bench warned Pathan: “The more time you take, the more damages you will have to pay.” The court granted him four weeks to pursue his claim but added that damages may be “punitive in nature.”
