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Rift within threatens to drag Punjab BJP down

CHANDIGARH: Riding on the nationalism sentiment post Balakot, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hopes to see an increase in its vote share in the border state, despite internal divisions and bickering.

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Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 26

Riding on the nationalism sentiment post Balakot, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hopes to see an increase in its vote share in the border state, despite internal divisions and bickering. The party is contesting three of the 13 Lok Sabha seats — Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur — in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). However, there are reports of infighting in all three. 

There are five factions in Gurdaspur, four in Hoshiarpur and two in Amritsar — none willing to relent to the other. This intense infighting, say party leaders, has not been addressed effectively. It has, in fact, been brushed under the carpet, which could make the going tough for the Punjab BJP, they caution.

Punjab BJP president Shwait Malik, who is Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s confidant, did try to reach out to senior party leaders, such as former state president Kamal Sharma, former minister Manoranjan Kalia and former MLA KD Bhandari. But insiders dismiss it as mere tokenism. In spite of several attempts, Malik did not respond to calls or messages for comment. Owing to the dissensions, the party has not been able to effectively launch its campaign so far and cash in on the nationalist fervour that BJP expects will propel it to victory at the hustings. 

Worse, the BJP and its ally SAD do not seem to have a joint strategy for the three  Lok Sabha seats that the BJP is contesting. “While the BJP is wary that the negative sentiment against the Akalis could rub on to the party, the Akali Dal is too busy strategising for the battle in its own constituencies. As a result, differences between local BJP and Akali leaders remain unresolved,” said a senior leader from Amritsar, who did not want to be identified.

Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur, both Hindu-dominated constituencies, send a good number of youths to the armed forces. Considering the popular sentiment after the Balakot airstrikes, it should not be too hard for the BJP to win the seats. “But the state leadership has yet to launch a campaign to cash in on the political narrative,” admitted a former president of the 

Punjab state unit.

He, however, argued that unlike the 2014 parliamentary elections, when despite the Modi wave the party suffered a jolt in Punjab with its senior leader Arun Jaitley suffering a humiliating defeat, nationalism would be a key factor in the border state this time. This, he said, would help the BJP poll a larger number of votes. 


LOW-KEY AFFAIR SO FAR

  • No big rallies, the BJP has begun campaigning in Gurdaspur constituency, holding workers’ meetings regularly
  • Punjab BJP president Shwait Malik is holding parleys with local leaders and booth-level workers, motivating them
  • One such meeting at Pathankot, that is part of Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, was held on Sunday 
  • It was attended by Kavita Khanna, Narendra Parmar, Master Mohan Lal, Ashwani Sharma and Dinesh Babbu, all five ticket aspirants

SAFFRON PARTY’S VOTE SHARE IN STATE

In 2017 Assembly elections, BJP’s vote share was 5.4%

In 2014 LS polls, party vote share in Punjab was 8.7%

In the 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections, it stood at 7.1%

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