CHANDIGARH, Oct 6: Infighting between the two warring factions of the BJP and the poor performance of the Municipal Corporation is being espoused as the major reason behind BJP nominee K.L. Sharma's humiliating defeat from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat.The Dhawan factor undoubtedly played a crucial role in getting Bansal elected, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with Sharma's defeat. With Dhawan's support, the Congress gained in the colonies and villages of the city, which constitute considerable proportion of the voters. The Bharatiya Janata Party fared badly in Palsora, Dadumajra and the Sector 25 Janata and Kumhar colonies, which were earlier considered to be the party's stronghold.The trouble in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began in November when eight councillors defeated Des Raj Tandon as member of the Finance and Contract Committee of the Corporation. The Councillors who voted against Tandon included city Mayor Kewal Krishan Adiwal, Senior Deputy Mayor Kanhaya Lal, Deputy Mayor Bachan Singh, R.L. Arora, O.P. Goel, R.S Bedi, and former senior deputy mayor Prem Sagar Jain and former mayor Kamla Sharma. It may be recalled that all these councillors held a meeting the day before the PM's visit to the city and unanimously decided tooppose Sharma's candidature.Later, they were brought into the party's forum with the initiative of the local leader. The leakage of the documents relating to property tax also affected the BJP adversely. An inquiry was ordered in the matter, but too late.Even though Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got 8,000 more votes in this election, it failed to make any dent in the villages and colonies represented by the dissident councillors. In Dadumajra, Palsora and two colonies of Sector 25, Sharma, on an average, was 4,000 votes behind his nearest arch rival Pawan Kumar Bansal. The situation was no better in other colonies and villages. Col Harsharan Singh, an independent candidate, who polled 3,248 votes, of mainly the defence personnel, also added to the Bharatiya Janata Party's setback.
