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Journalism of Courage
The news that Sunil Jakhar has resigned as Punjab BJP president comes on the back of growing indications from his camp that the former Congress leader was at odds with his new party.
According to sources, Jakhar, who reportedly wants to be relieved of Punjab BJP chief post before the panchayat elections on October 15, put in his papers more than two months ago, citing difference of opinion with state BJP leaders and their working style. Sources said he and BJP organisation secretary Manthri Sreenivasulu often clashed at internal party meetings.
On Thursday, after Jakhar skipped a Punjab BJP meeting, party state general secretary Anil Sarin said: “It was not necessary for the state BJP president to attend Thursday’s meeting… He has no differences with anyone.” Sarin dismissed the talk of his resignation as “false propaganda being spread by Opposition parties”.
A state BJP leader told The Indian Express: “Jakhar has come from the Congress and the BJP works in a different style… Perhaps he was not able to make a smooth transition… Let’s see what happens next.”
Jakhar’s “discomfiture” in the BJP could partly have to do with the resentment among the BJP’s old cadre over the influx of leaders from the Congress into the party. Senior BJP leader Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal recently said that “Congressism” would not be allowed in the BJP and that the party had its own set of principles.
Apart from Jakhar, former Congress faces who are now senior leaders in the BJP include Ravneet Singh Bittu, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Kewal Dhillon, former CM Amarinder Singh and his wife Preneet Kaur and daughter Jai Inder Kaur.
The rumours that Jakhar was “unhappy” have been circulating for a while, given his pronounced absence from party activities since the Lok Sabha polls. He was last seen on September 3 at a BJP membership drive meeting in Chandigarh.
Earlier this week, when BJP MP Kangana Ranaut gave a statement saying farmers should welcome the contentious farm laws back, Jakhar said: “The BJP does not need an Opposition with MPs like these.” He also said that farmers should not worry too much about what Ranaut said as it only ended up helping their cause. At the same time, Jakhar stressed, this was his “personal view” and not the party’s.
Jakhar is the son of Balram Jakhar, the late Congress leader who held senior positions in the party, served as the Lok Sabha Speaker, and is well-regarded among farmers for having founded the Bhartiya Krishak Samaj in 1965. A three-time Abohar MLA (2002, 2007, 2012), and one-time MP from Gurdaspur, all on Congress ticket, Sunil Jakhar had been made Punjab Congress chief in 2017.
He held the post till 2021, before the change of guard at the top in the state Congress government, with Charanjit Singh Channi replacing Amarinder Singh, saw Jakhar at variance with the party. Though Jakhar denied he wanted to be CM, the talk was that his name was rejected as he is a Hindu.
In May 2022, Jakhar resigned from the Congress, and days later, joined the BJP. Almost a year later, in July 2023, the BJP, seeking to assuage farmer anger in the wake of the farm laws protest, made him president of its Punjab unit. The BJP fought the recent Lok Sabha polls under Jakhar’s leadership, and could not win a single seat. While the BJP’s vote share doubled from 9% in 2019 to 18.5% in 2024, it was also because it fought all the 13 seats in the state, compared to three when it fought as an ally of the Akali Dal.
In the post-results analysis, many leaders blamed Jakhar for the BJP’s loss in Ludhiana and Ferozepur, where his former Congress colleagues Bittu and Rana Sodhi were party candidates. Jakhar did not turn up to campaign for Sodhi.
However, as Jakhar’s supporters pointed out, Bittu’s defeat margin was over 20,000 votes while Sodhi finished third.
Sodhi, incidentally, is now in-charge of 12 districts in the BJP’s ongoing membership drive.
