Two former Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's members, who had quit the student outfit in 2016, questioned the timing of the chargesheet in the JNU sedition row and said it is "politically motivated". The ABVP said the two were siding with the Congress, which had supported the accused students, and termed it a "political ploy" divert attention. Then ABVP JNU unit joint secretary Pradeep Narwal and two others had resigned from their posts following clashes in the campus over an incident on February 9, 2016 in which "anti-national slogans" were allegedly raised.

ABVP's JNU unit vice-president Jatin Goraya had resigned from the post in August 2016, saying he was "tired" of the ABVP's stand on the attacks against Dalits and their handling of issues, including the sedition row. On Wednesday, Narwal said the chargesheet is politically motivated. "Three years ago, JNU issue had triggered a media trial and with the filing of the chargesheet, it has started again. A chargesheet is usually filed within 90 days after the FIR, but what took the police three years to file the chargesheet? It is clear that the whole thing is politically motivated," he claimed.