State BJP unit staggers as crisis in leadership continues after Jakhar's 'resignation'

The Punjab unit of the BJP continues to reel under crisis over leadership and failure of ground support. Party president Sunil Jakhar, who has resigned from the post, stayed away from another meeting called by the state affairs incharge, Vijay Rupani, on Monday.

Sources said as Jakhar’s absence from the meeting came up, it was discussed that the state unit did not know about the resignation and PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party national president JP Nadda would take a call on the post of president, if needed.

The party has also reportedly failed to expand the number of members because workers are upset over the allocation of tickets for the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, where 11 of 13 candidates were former Congress leaders.

Though Rupani maintained at a media conference that Jakhar had not resigned from the post and was busy with ‘party work’ in New Delhi, Jakhar's absence came up briefly at Rupani’s meeting with the state organisation secretaries.

Besides Rupani, general secretary (organisation) Manthri Srinivaslu, and organisation secretaries Daya Singh Sodhi, Jagmohan Raju and Rakesh Rathore attended the meeting. The remaining two organisation secretaries, Anil Sarin and Parminder Brar, were absent from the meeting.

Sources said as Jakhar’s absence from the meeting came up, it was discussed that the state unit did not know about the resignation and the top three national leaders — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party national president JP Nadda — would take a call on the post of president, if needed.

Jakhar had reportedly met Nadda in New Delhi on Friday evening to inform him that he did not want to continue as the party president.

Party sources said Rupani was upset over the failure of the membership drive in the state. The party has got about three lakh members whereas it had aimed for a base of 25 lakh members. Some leaders told him that grassroots workers wanted posts and tickets for traditional BJP workers, instead of non-BJP candidates who only joined the party close to elections. Tuesday was the last day of the membership drive.

Later in the evening, Rupani and other leaders met the State Election Commission and submitted a memorandum highlighting the problems faced by candidates for the panchayat elections. The delegation demanded fair elections.