Former BJP minister Chunni Lal Bhagat, BJYM leader among 12 ousted ahead of MC polls

Shortly after the BJP released its 11-point party manifesto for Jalandhar ahead of the MC polls, the party expelled 12 leaders for alleged anti-party activities. Prominent among those who have been expelled is the party’s senior leader, former minister Bhagat Chunni Lal, who is the father of AAP Jalandhar West MLA Mohinder Bhagat. The party has also expelled BJYM leader Arjun Trehan, who has been publicly criticising the BJP, blaming its senior leadership, ever since he was denied a ticket during the MC polls.

Notably, this is the second list of expulsions from the BJP ahead of the MC polls. A few days ago, too, the party had expelled six leaders, several of whom bagged the ticket as councillors from the AAP, soon after.

The decision was taken by the party’s Punjab affairs incharge Vijay Rupani, and co-incharge, Narinder Raina, among other leaders, after the party’s core committee meeting.

Apart from Bhagat and Trehan, other leaders who have been expelled include Anupam Sharma, Sukhdev Sonu, Hatinder Talwar, Hasan Soni, Deinesh Dua, Subhash Dhal, Ajay Chopra, Pradeep Vasudeva, Gurvinder Singh Lamba, and Balwinder Kumar.

The expulsion of 92-year-old Bhagat Chunni Lal comes months after speculations of his ouster from the BJP first began doing the rounds in the run-up to the Jalandhar West bypolls. Senior Bhagat’s posters with son Mohinder had dotted the constituency ahead of the bypoll, and he had also sought votes for Mohinder. After winning the bypoll in July this year, Mohinder Bhagat was soon declared cabinet minister.

The minister’s constituency Jalandhar West is among the pivotal city constituencies where parties seek to mark a strong presence in the upcoming polls.

The Bhagat family had served the BJP in Jalandhar West for decades. Jalandhar South (as Jalandhar West was earlier called) was won by Chunni Lal in 1997 and 2007, and Jalandhar West in 2012. Chunni Lal served as the local bodies minister in the Akali-BJP government and held various other posts in the party. Meanwhile, when in the BJP, Mohinder had unsuccessfully contested the Jalandhar West elections in 2017 and 2022.

Meanwhile, Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader Arjun Trehan had been active in the BJP for the past many years. Trehan had objected to the allocation of the BJP ticket to farm leader Professor Kanwar Sartaj from Ward 18 and had been targeting the party leadership for choosing a candidate who had indulged in ‘anti-party activities.’ Trehan had since then been posting former videos of Sartaj and memes targeting BJP leaders on his social media. He had also written to the party’s state president on being denied the ticket. Resigning from the membership of the party, he had alleged that a person who had attacked him and tore the party's posters was being chosen for the MC ticket.