Chandigarh BJP drops Satya Pal Jain from core group
Party leaders say this is for the first time when formers presidents have been included in the core committee while leaving an ex-MP out
The Chandigarh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dropped Satya Pal Jain, the additional solicitor general of India in Punjab and Haryana high court, and a former local member of Parliament (MP), from the party’s state core group.
Not only this, names of leaders from his camp also do not figure neither in the core group nor in the state’s executive body, the second in power.
The move comes at a time when the party is gearing up for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The major reshuffle was carried out by the city BJP chief, Jatinder Pal Malhotra, considered close to former city unit chief Sanjay Tandon, three months after he took over reins of the party in October.
Malhotra on Friday released the list of core committee of Chandigarh BJP, comprising himself, MP Kirron Kher, national executive member and former state president Sanjay Tandon, former state president Arun Sood, current mayor and councillor Anup Gupta, vice-president Rambir Bhatti, and general secretaries Hukum Chand and Amit Jindal.
Sudan Singh, Vijay Rupani and Manthari Sriniv Asullu are special invitees.
Interestingly, the names were made public at a time when national BJP chief JP Nadda was also on a tour of the city and neighbouring states.
Party sources said this was for the first time when a former MP was not included in the core group. Earlier this week, the BJP had also released the list of executive body office-bearers, including no leader from Jain camp.
The core committee is the apex decision-making body of the local unit with 8-10 members. This time there are nine members and three special invitees. As of the executive body, it earlier had some 60-odd members, but the present body has 31 members only.
Two-time MP from Chandigarh
Jain was elected to the Lok Sabha from Chandigarh in 1996 and 1998, and is also a senate member of Panjab University.
He has been the all India in-charge of the BJP legal cell for over 10 years.
Terming the present situation of the state unit as “tug of war”, a senior BJP leader said besides Jain, even most of the Kher’s men did not find a place in the top bodies.
Internal bickering in the Chandigarh unit has always remained a challenge for the saffron fold. It is believed that Kher made an entry in 2014, after the then top leaders, Tandon, Jain and former Union minister Harmohan Dhawan, battled over MP’s ticket.
“It is strange that Jain won’t be a part of Chandigarh BJP’s core team. Also, if former presidents Sood and Tandon are in the committee, former presidents Kamla Sharma and Yashpal Mahajan could also have been included,” commented another senior BJP leader, not wishing to be named.
Sources close to Jain claimed that he was not even consulted before finalising the names and that he was “annoyed” with the decision. When contacted, Jain refused to give a comment.
Meanwhile, Malhotra said, “There are no camps or groups in the BJP and the decisions have been taken in consultation with senior/national leaders. The party’s decisions are supreme.”
