Ahead of Jalandhar byelection, Rajnath Singh meets Beas dera head Gurinder Dhillon

Amritsar, March 25

Days before the Jalandhar byelection, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Gurinder Singh Dhillon, head of the Dera Radha Soami Satsang, Beas, here on Saturday. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh remained at the Beas dera for nearly one and half hours and held a closed door meeting with its head at his residence.

As per the dera’s policy, no mediaperson was allowed access to the dera premises.

Sources in the dera said the Defence Minister had said that he was fortunate to have visited the dera for the second time as he got an opportunity to familiarise with various social works being carried out by the dera. The sources said he lauded the welfare works done by the dera for the betterment of society and country.

Rajnath described it a courtesy visit, which had nothing to do with the politics.

Visits of the Saffron party leaders are seen as an attempt to consolidate the presence of the BJP in the state. After parting ways from the SAD, the BJP has been trying different ways right from poaching leaders from Opposition parties to visiting dera heads to consolidate its position in both the urban and rural pockets of the state.

In November, before the Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the dera. The dera has considerable followers not only in the Doaba region of the state, but also in pockets of the Northern India.

Earlier, the Union Defence Minister alighted at the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport here and was flown to the Beas dera over 40 km from here. Among BJP leaders Jiwan Gupta, general secretary, state BJP, Raj Kumar Verka and former Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Malik welcomed the Defence Minister.