CHANDIGAR: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) laeders Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak on Friday filed a defamation suit in Chandigarh court against their own party's MLA, Devinder Sehrawat, for alleging that women who want to contest in the upcoming Punjab polls are being "exploited" by some AAP leaders.

In a letter to AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sehrawat had said: "I saw disturbing reports about women being exploited in Punjab in return of or giving promise of ticket.... The MLAs of Delhi are unaware about what is being done by Sanjay Singh, Durgesh etc as party representatives."

AAP national executive members Singh and Durgesh Pathak are the Punjab observer and Punjab in-charge, respectively.

Sehrawat, a retired colonel, has been with Kejriwal since the launch of the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption in 2011.

His letter came a few days after former Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar was sacked after visuals of him in bed with unidentified women emerged.

Singh, the AAP Punjab observer, had earlier told a media conference: "I repeat what I have been saying: if found guilty, I will withdraw from public life. There is no proof for Sehrawatji's allegation.... Today false allegations are being levelled. It is a BJP and Akali Dal conspiracy because they know AAP will sweep the polls."