Congress turncoats dominate as BJP rejigs its state unit

Chandigarh, December 3

The BJP rejigged its state unit today, with turncoats from the Congress dominating most of the newly constituted panels of the saffron outfit.

In the panel of 11 state vice-presidents, six had joined the party after quitting the Congress and one the SAD.

Those who made it to the panel include Kewal Dhillon, Jai Inder Kaur, Raj Kumar Verka, Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha, Fatehjang Bajwa and Arvind Khanna. All these leaders had left the Congress around or after the 2022 Assembly poll. Jagdeep Singh Nakai, who left the Akali Dal to join the saffron outfit, was also included in the panel.

The panel has just three leaders — Subhash Sharma, Dayal Sodhi and Rakesh Rathour — who originally belonged to the BJP.

Similarly, among five state general secretaries, former Power Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar in the Congress government has been given a place.

The state secretaries include Harjot Kamal Singh and Daman Thind Bajwa, who joined the BJP after failing to get the ticket from the Congress. Parminder Brar and Jassi Jasraj also left the SAD and AAP’s rebel group during the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections. Former journalist Jasmeen Sadhawalia has also been included in the panel.

However, former Cabinet Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu could not find a place in panels comprising 62 members. Sidhu said he was a loyal worker of the BJP. “The party leadership may have some other role for me in mind,” he said.

Going by the list, most of the leaders are either turncoats or those considered close to Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma.

Reactions from the party have already started coming with BJP leader Sukhminder Grewal stating that the “original” leaders had been ignored.