Hoshiarpur LS seat: Differences sorted, claims Jakhar; Sampla mum
Jakhar held a closed-door meeting with Sampla for nearly two hours, after which the BJP state chief claimed that everything had been sorted out
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Sunil Jakhar met Vijay Sampla amid speculations that the former chairman of the National Commission for Schedule Caste was ready to quit the saffron party to join another political outfit after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket from Hoshiarpur.
Jakhar held a closed-door meeting with Sampla for nearly two hours, after which the BJP state chief claimed that everything had been sorted out. On Thursday, Sampla had met BJP president JP Nadda in Delhi, but the talks had failed.
Jakhar told the mediapersons that Sampla would continue to work for the BJP and added that his grievances would be conveyed to the party higher-ups.
“BJP is a disciplined party, and the party’s interests are supreme for its functionaries. We will work together to achieve the target of 400 plus seats”, Jakhar said.
Sampla, who stood beside Jakhar during the media interaction, refused to say anything. His silence is set to fuel a fresh round of speculations. While AAP has named Raj Kumar Chabbewal as its nominee, on April 16, the BJP fielded outgoing member of Parliament Som Parkash’s wife Anita from its traditional stronghold of Hoshiarpur, a reserved seat for Scheduled Caste candidates.
Congress and SAD are yet to announce their candidates for Hoshiarpur.
Upset over the denial of the ticket, Sampla had started exploring other options. Sampla met the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leadership twice in Chandigarh and is said to be in touch with Congress also.
People close to him revealed that he had almost made up his mind to switch sides but, on the insistence of some of his close confidantes, has suspended the decision for the time being. Punjab goes to poll on June 1. His loyalist Sanjiv Talwar and his wife Neeti joined the SAD on Friday.
