Run-up to 2024 Lok Sabha polls: A mix of old & new in BJP Punjab unit

In its quest to expand party base all across the state and strike a chord with all communities after coming out of shadow of its former ally SAD, BJP has appointed prominent leaders representing various communities in the state, many among them who had come into the saffron fold not very long ago. A senior BJP leader said there was “resentment among the old and loyal activists of the party for giving prominent role to new comers who came in the party fold from other parties.”

Another leader said, “The current revamp is part of party’s experiments for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It will be clear only after the polls as to what results this experiment yields.”

Former chief of Punjab BJP’s Yuva Morcha Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal who remained associated with party’s Kisan Morcha expressed displeasure over “ignoring senior BJP leaders on large scale” in the revamp. Grewal added, “There is huge unrest in the BJP cadre as senior BJP leader has been ignored on a large scale in the reconstituted unit. We have convened a meeting on September 24 in this regard.”

The revamped Punjab unit of BJP includes 21 core-committee members, up from 17 when the last rejig was effected in December 2022. Six existing members have been replaced in the revamped core group of the party which includes ten new faces. BJP leaders who had quit Congress to join BJP and are members of 21-member core committee are Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar (Hindu Jat leader), former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, former ministers Manpreet Singh Badal (Jat Sikh leaders); Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi (Khatri Sikh); and Raj Kumar Verka (Dalit leader), and former MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon (Jat Sikh).

Senior BJP leaders Shawait Malik, Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhinna and Rajinder Bhandari are among the six leaders who have been replaced in the core committee and so is another party leader Jaswinder Dhillon. All the four have not made it to any post in the 67-member revamped unit of Punjab BJP. Fateh Jang Singh Bajwa, who was included in the core committee in December last year has also been replaced and appointed as State vice president and so is Subhash Sharma.

The revamped core committee of Punjab BJP also includes former deputy speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal, a Dalit leader, who had quit Akali Dal to join BJP in the run up to May 10 Jalandhar parliamentary bypoll where BJP fielded his son Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, who switched over from Akali Dal. Inder Iqbal had finished fourth in the four cornered contest.

Another Dalit leader who was an Akali leader till 2016 and returned to active politics by joining BJP ahead of February 2022 Punjab, Avinash Chander has also made it to the core committee. Punjab has around 33 percent of Dalit population across the State and Chander hails from Doaba region of the State where majority of the Dalit population is concentrated.

Senior BJP leaders, former MP Vijay Sampla and sitting MP from Hoshiarpur Som Parkash are other Dalit faces in the core committee. The other members of core committee include veteran BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia, senior leader Tikshan Sud, former state BJP chiefs Ashwani Sharma and Avinash Rai Khanna, BJP leaders Harjeet Singh Grewal, Dinesh Singh Babbu, Jangi Lal Mahajan, Jeevan Gupta, Sarabjit Singh Virk and P S Gill. Nine women leaders figure in the reconstituted set up including former union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia’s daughter Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia who has made it to the core committee.

Jai Inder Kaur, daughter of BJP national executive member and former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, has been appointed as chief of Punjab BJP Mahila Morcha. Jai Inder Kaur has been politically very active in family pocket borough of Patiala. Jasmine Sandhawalia, a former journalist who worked with The Tribune and The Times of India and who was serving in Punjab BJP as State secretary, has been appointed as State vice president.

A post graduate in Journalism from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Jasmine earlier worked as media convenor with BJP since 2020. She is niece of late Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, the only woman in the country who became MP for six times – five times Lok Sabha MP and one time Rajya Sabha MP. Jasmine is considered close to Patiala Member of Parliament and Captain Amarinder Singh’s wife Preneet Kaur and former Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia. The other women leader among the twelve vice presidents is Mona Jaswal.

Five women leaders Daman Thind Bajwa, Renu Kashyap, Renu Thapar, Meenu Sethi and Vandana Sangwan are among 12 leaders who have been named as State secretaries. The other leaders who have been appointed as State secretaries are Dr Harjot Kamal (who had quit Congress to join BJP), Shivraj Chaudhary, Sanjeev Khanna, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Kanwarveer Singh Tohra (grandson of Akali stalwart Gurcharan Singh Tohra who (Kanwarveer) had unsuccessfully contested last Punjab elections from Amloh on BJP ticket), Durgesh Sharma and Rakesh Sharma.

Former Congress leaders who switched to BJP, Arvind Khanna, former ministers Balbir Singh Sidhu and Gurpreet Kanagar are among those appointed as State vice president. Jagdeep Singh Nakkai, a former Akali leader who joined BJP, has also been named as State vice president. Other vice presidents are BJP leaders Surjit Kumar Jayani, K D Bhandari, Rajesh Bagga and Bikramjit Singh Cheema. Former IAS officer Sucha Ram Ladhar has been retained as party’s SC Morcha chief. Amarpal Singh (Bonny Ajnala, a former Akali Dal leader who joined BJP, has been appointed as party’s OBC Morcha chief. Thomas Masih has been retained as party’s Minority Morcha chief. Colonel Jaibans Singh (retd) has been named as party spokesperson of Punjab BJP, Khushwant Rai Giga as Protocol Secretary, and Hardev Singh Ubha as Press Secretary.

Darshan Singh Nainewal has been appointed as chief of party’s Kisan Moracha, Gurdev Sharma (Debi) as treasurer, Sukhwinder Singh Goldy as Joint-treasurer and Suneel Dutt Bhardwaj as office secretary. Rakesh Rathore, Dayal Singh Sodhi, Anil Sareen, Jagmohan Singh Raju and Parminder Singh Brar were appointed as State general secretary.