Factionalism to fore in Sundernagar BJP

Our Correspondent

Sundernagar, December 26

Factionalism among BJP leaders of Sundernagar district came to the fore on the occasion of the celebrations of the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee here yesterday.

One faction of the BJP was headed by its district president Rakesh Jamwal and the other one was headed by former minister Roop Singh Thakur who remained a six-time MLA from the Sundernagar Assembly segment.

During the 2012 Assembly elections, Roop Singh Thakur, sitting MLA, was denied ticket by the BJP and it was given to Rakesh Jamwal.

Expelled from the party for some time after his defeat in the 2012 Assembly elections, Roop Singh was taken back into the party during the parliamentary elections. But it was not liked by the group, headed by Rakesh Jamwal, and a rift between them existed.

In May when the BJP formed government at the Centre and Narendra Modi was elected Prime Minister both leaders celebrated the occasion separately. Later, JP Nadda was taken into the Cabinet as Health Minister and the occasion was celebrated by the two factions separately.

Yesterday some party workers did not want to see Roop Singh Thakur on stage. So when his name was called, some workers objected to it, making Roop Singh to opt and sit among party workers and he avoided sharing a public stage.

All this happened in the presence of Ram Swaroop Sharma, MP from Mandi, Jai Ram Thakur, Vinod Kumar (both MLAs) and other office bearers of both Sundernagar and Mandi district units of the BJP.

Interestingly, former ministers Gulab Singh, Mohinder Singh (both MLAs) and Inder Singh, MLA, did not attend the function, which indicated that things were not in order in the party unit.

Some senior party workers, annoyed with the factionalism, said though the party high command had taken back Roop Singh into the party, the local unit was humiliating the leader. They further said that they would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh, national president of the party, about the happenings which were not in the interest of the party.