Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka has emerged as a prominent face of the group’s activism, regularly appearing in protests and public campaigns while billing himself as a voice on issues ranging from education and health to governance.
But a closer look at his professional background reveals a far wider network, one that runs through international public-health organisations, global philanthropic institutions and, during his second stint at Gavi, a former Pakistani senator and minister who had previously worked closely with Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The trail begins with Gavi
Ranka’s professional profile shows that he first worked with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, from May 2021 to July 2022. He returned to the organisation in October 2024 as an independent, part-time consultant, a position he held until September 2025.
The timing of his second stint is particularly noteworthy.
By October 2024, Gavi was being led by Dr Sania Nishtar, who had taken over as the organisation’s Chief Executive Officer on March 18, 2024. Nishtar was not simply a public-health professional who happened to come from Pakistan. Before moving to Gavi, she had been a Pakistani senator and had held a minister-rank position in the country’s federal government.
From 2018 to 2022, she served as Special Assistant to then Prime Minister Imran Khan on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, with the status of a Federal Minister. She had previously served as a Federal Minister during Pakistan’s caretaker government in 2013.
Thus, when Ranka returned to Gavi as a part-time consultant in October 2024, the organisation was headed by a former senior figure in Pakistan’s political establishment.
That fact does not establish a direct relationship between Ranka and Nishtar, nor is there evidence that she personally recruited or supervised him. But the chronology is important when examining the professional network through which Ranka operated.
Sania Nishtar and Imran Khan’s government
Nishtar’s role in Pakistan under Imran Khan was substantial.
A 2020 Telegraph profile described her as Khan’s Special Adviser on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation and identified her as the person tasked with building Ehsaas, the PTI government’s flagship social-protection programme.
The programme was closely associated with Khan’s political vision. Following his 2018 election victory, Khan had spoken extensively about poverty, education, malnutrition and social protection, invoking the idea of a welfare state that would take responsibility for its weaker sections.
Nishtar was subsequently given the responsibility of translating that vision into government policy. Ehsaas became an umbrella programme covering social safety nets, education scholarships, healthcare, employment and poverty alleviation.
Nishtar therefore occupied a position at the intersection of public health, international development and Pakistani politics before eventually moving to the leadership of Gavi.
It was during her tenure as Gavi CEO that Ranka returned to the organisation.
Ranka was working for Gavi while actively associated with AAP
The Gavi connection becomes even more interesting when viewed alongside Ranka’s political activity.
His professional profile identifies his second Gavi stint as a part-time independent consultancy running from October 2024 to September 2025. During this same period, his Instagram account shows an active association with the Aam Aadmi Party and its leadership.
A post dated February 20, 2025 shows Ranka posing with AAP leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In the accompanying caption, Ranka described Kejriwal as the person who had “inspired me like no one else” and said he had decided to be “slightly shameless” that day. He further wrote that “AK is as determined as ever” and told his followers that there were exciting things coming up.
The post is significant because it does not present Ranka as a detached observer meeting a politician for a routine photograph. His own words indicate admiration for Kejriwal and suggest that he was personally invested in the political developments surrounding the AAP leader.
Another post dated March 18, 2025 shows Ranka participating in an AAP-related press interaction. The video has an AAP backdrop and Ranka’s caption discusses the condition of government schools in Rajasthan while tagging the AAP Rajasthan account and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
Both posts were made while Ranka was simultaneously listed as a part-time consultant with Gavi.
That does not mean Gavi endorsed AAP or that Ranka’s political activities were undertaken on behalf of Gavi. Nor does employment by an international organisation prevent an individual from engaging in politics in his personal capacity.
But it does raise a legitimate question about the boundaries between Ranka’s professional role and his political activism.
From AAP to CJP
Ranka’s political association with AAP also provides important context to his subsequent emergence as a CJP spokesperson.
A cursory examination of his social-media footprint shows that his political activism did not begin with CJP. He had already established a visible association with AAP and its leadership, including public appearances and expressions of admiration for Kejriwal.
His March 2025 appearance, in particular, shows him actively participating in an AAP political communication exercise rather than merely expressing a personal political preference online.
This matters because Ranka is now primarily known publicly through his CJP persona. His earlier political associations provide a broader picture of the trajectory that preceded it.
The relevant question is not whether moving from one political platform or movement to another is improper. Political activists frequently move between organisations.
The question is whether his professional affiliations and political engagements were adequately disclosed, especially during periods when the two overlapped.
The Soros connection runs through Gavi
Ranka’s first stint at Gavi also coincided with an important institutional relationship involving the Open Society Foundations.
In April 2022, Gavi entered into a roughly US$200 million COVAX risk-sharing facility with MedAccess and the Open Society Foundations. The arrangement involved procurement guarantees of up to US$100 million each from MedAccess and the Soros Economic Development Fund.
The purpose was to help facilitate additional COVID-19 vaccine procurement through COVAX.
There is no evidence that Ranka personally received any of this money or played a role in negotiating the arrangement. It would therefore be misleading to describe the Gavi–Open Society partnership as proof that Ranka was personally funded by George Soros.
But it is nevertheless part of the institutional ecosystem in which Ranka worked.
The broader chain is therefore documented: Ranka worked for Gavi; Gavi had an institutional financial relationship involving the Open Society Foundations; and the Open Society network is associated with George Soros.
Global Health Visions and Kinaura Partners
Gavi is not the only international organisation appearing in Ranka’s professional history.
Ranka has also been associated with Global Health Visions (GHV), subsequently renamed Kinaura Partners, a consultancy operating in the global-health sector. His professional profile identifies him as a Senior Associate at the organisation.
The consultancy’s work covers areas including immunisation, infectious diseases and health policy, and its public material has identified major international organisations and philanthropic foundations among those connected with its work.
Why did information about Ranka disappear?
The issue attracted greater attention after activist Vijay Patel highlighted Ranka’s professional affiliations.
Information about Ranka that had previously appeared on the concerned organisation’s website was subsequently reported to have been removed. His professional association, however, continued to appear on his LinkedIn profile.
The disappearance of a profile does not, on its own, establish wrongdoing. Websites are redesigned, employees leave and organisations routinely alter their public-facing pages.
But the timing inevitably raises questions when the individual concerned is a politically active public figure and the information disappears after his professional links are publicly highlighted.
If the professional association was entirely routine, the obvious solution would be transparency: identify the role, its duration, the nature of the work and any relevant disclosures.
The Pakistani link needs to be understood carefully
The most politically sensitive part of the story is undoubtedly the Pakistani connection.
Sania Nishtar was a senior figure in Imran Khan’s government. She was responsible for implementing one of his flagship welfare programmes and subsequently became CEO of Gavi.
Ranka, meanwhile, returned to Gavi as a part-time consultant after Nishtar had assumed the CEO’s position.
The larger network
What makes Ranka’s background noteworthy is not one isolated association but the combination of several different networks.
There is his association with AAP and Arvind Kejriwal, which is publicly visible through his own social-media posts. There is his professional association with Gavi, where he worked both before and during Sania Nishtar’s tenure as CEO. There is his association with Global Health Visions/Kinaura Partners, another player in the international public-health ecosystem. And there is Gavi’s institutional relationship with the Open Society Foundations.
Taken together, they raise questions that deserve straightforward answers.
What exactly were Ranka’s responsibilities at Gavi? Who paid him? What was the nature of his part-time consultancy? Were his political activities with AAP disclosed to his employer? What was his role at Global Health Visions/Kinaura Partners? And why was information about his professional association reportedly removed after it attracted public scrutiny?
These are questions of transparency and potential conflicts of interest.
The questions CJP and Ranka should answer
Ranka is now a political spokesperson and public campaigner. That makes his professional history relevant to the public, particularly when it includes employment with major international organisations and political activity during the same period.
The available record shows that he worked with Gavi, returned to it as a part-time consultant after Sania Nishtar became CEO, maintained an association with an international global-health consultancy, and was simultaneously visibly engaged with AAP and its leadership. His own Instagram posts provide evidence of that political association.
For someone who now presents himself as a political activist and spokesperson, the basic questions are simple: What were his professional relationships? Who funded his work? What political activities did he undertake while employed by international organisations? Were those activities disclosed? And are there any institutional or financial relationships that the public has not yet been told about?
