BJP stays with Punjab plot; brings Captain, Sunil Jakhar in national executive
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, December 2: Not losing heart despite polling a mere 6.60 per cent of vote share in the Punjab Assemble elections held early this year, the Bharatiya Janata Party continues to firm up its Punjab plot with a clear aim to gain the vote base of Congress in the state. The BJP on Friday inducted former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar, who had been the Congress state unit chief in the national executive of the party.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had swept the Assembly elections, winning four-fifth of the seats in the state, with a vote share of 42 per cent. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, incidentally, is yet to taste electoral success in Punjab even while the BJP riding on him has won several state elections. For the BJP, Punjab remains an utmost challenge where the saffron outfit wants to reengineer the Sikh-Hindu political alliance.
The BJP chief JP Nadda also inducted S Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Amanjot Kaur Ramuwalia and Manoranjan Kaliya from Punjab as special invitees to the national executive of the party, which consists of the core groups of the state units of the party, besides the national office bearers. Singh was ousted from the post of Chief Minister by Congress ahead of the Assembly elections after which he floated his own party and subsequently merged the outfit with the BJP. The saffron outfit has also appointed Jaiveer Shergil from Punjab as the spokesperson of the party.
The BJP had won only two seats in the Punjab elections, one less than the party’s former ally the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which could win just three constituencies. However, the SAD had polled about 18 per cent vote share in the state.
Punjab and Tamil Nadu remain states of special attention for Modi, who armed the BJP with the political nationalism, which has so far not found a receptive audience in the two states where sub-nationalism runs high. Modi has faced hostile receptions in both the states, but he remains invested with a clear aim to build the BJP’s stocks in the coming years.
The farmers’ protests against the agrarian laws enacted by Parliament were essentially from Punjab, which forced Modi to come on the national television to announce their withdrawal.
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