Chandigarh: A rebellion of sorts is brewing in the BJP in Punjab and Chandigarh following the announcement of Lok Sabha candidates, including Bollywood star Sunny Deol.
Many in the party are expecting a revolt, after the names were announced virtually at the last minute.
In Punjab, where the BJP is in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal, the party fields candidates on three of the 13 Lok Sabha seats.
The case of Gurdaspur
One of the triggers for this potential revolt was when the BJP announced Deol’s candidature from the Gurdaspur seat, where Kavita Khanna, wife of late actor-turned-MP Vinod Khanna, was expecting a ticket.
An upset Kavita lashed out at the party Tuesday.
“The BJP has a habit of ditching its own cadre in favour of outsiders and that is what they have done with me,” she told mediapersons.
Khanna had won the Gurdaspur seat four times and was a fairly popular leader. He was the sitting MP when he died of cancer in 2017. In the ensuing bypolls, Kavita was not given the ticket, with the party instead fielding local businessman Swaran Salaria. He lost the bypoll to Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar.
“During the bypoll, I was promised that I will be given the ticket in these elections. Salaria lost by 1.93 lakh votes three years after my husband won by 1.38 lakh votes,” Kavita said.
Jakhar has been retained as the Congress’ Gurdaspur candidate.
Also read: In Sunny Deol & Hans Raj Hans, BJP sees a ‘tactic’ that will help party win again
More angry voices
There are others who are angry too. The BJP’s sitting MP from Hoshiarpur, Vijay Sampla, has also lodged a strong protest for being ignored by the party. Instead of retaining him, the party has given a ticket to its Phagwara MLA, Som Parkash.
In a set of two tweets after the ticket was announced Tuesday evening, Sampla said the party had committed “cow slaughter”.
https://twitter.com/vijaysamplabjp/status/1120697531917197313
“They should’ve told me what my fault was. I have no allegations of corruption against me. I have no taint on my character. I got an airport here, improved trains and roads. If this is my fault then I will tell future generations not to make these mistakes.”
https://twitter.com/vijaysamplabjp/status/1120702400078073856
Parkash, a retired IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, lost the Lok Sabha polls in 2009 from Hoshiarpur, but went on to win assembly polls in 2012 and in 2017. He said he would meet Sampla soon to assuage him and seek his cooperation.
Amritsar’s local BJP unit is also upset over the party choosing union minister Hardeep Puri as the candidate.
Branded as an ‘outsider’, Puri is finding it difficult to find support among the cadre. Rajinder Mohan Chhina, who had contested the 2017 Amritsar Lok Sabha bypoll and lost to Congress’ Gurjit Aujala, was expecting a ticket this time too, but was ignored.
Also read: BJP & Shiromani Akali Dal will fight 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Punjab together: Amit Shah
Situation in Chandigarh
In Chandigarh, the party has retained its sitting MP, actor-turned-politician Kirron Kher. This has upset the city’s BJP chief Sanjay Tandon.
Tandon is the son of former Chhattisgarh governor Balram Das Tandon, a BJP stalwart who passed away last year. Sanjay was a serious contender for the ticket in 2014, but Kher was chosen over him. He was then promised the ticket for these elections, but has been ignored this time too.
Also in the race for the ticket from Chandigarh was former BJP MP Satya Pal Jain, currently additional solicitor general in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Following the announcement of the ticket, Kher tweeted: “Thank you Hon’ble PM @narendramodi, @AmitShah @arunjaitley & the @BJP4India family for their faith in me. Above all thanks to Chandigarh for having utmost trust on me. I hope I have served you well & I vow that I will continue doing so in future.”
चंडीगढ़ का साथ ही है मेरा विश्वास. Thank you Hon'ble PM @narendramodi, @AmitShah @arunjaitley & the @BJP4India family for their faith in me. Above all thanks to Chandigarh for having utmost trust on me. I hope I have served you well & I vow that I will continue doing so in future pic.twitter.com/dTVipwcgbF
— Kirron Kher (@KirronKherBJP) April 23, 2019
Kher also went to meet Tandon at his residence, to try and convince him to cooperate.
She is taking on four-time Congress MP Pawan Bansal, and AAP’s Harmohan Dhawan, who recently switched over from the BJP.