Senior BJP leaders find no place in UT administrator’s advisory council

In contrast to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-centric advisory council of the previous years, which saw many leaders with direct affiliations to the party, the new administrator’s advisory council (AAC) constituted by Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, has names of several senior BJP leaders dropped.

In a major shift, the new council includes a broader spectrum of personalities from various professional fields, signalling a more balanced approach to policy and decision-making. The administrator reconstituted the council on Tuesday, which will serve for two years - from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2026.

Notably, former MP and additional solicitor general of India Satya Pal Jain, senior BJP leaders - Sanjay Tandon, Arun Sood, Vineet Joshi, and Davesh Moudgil, have not found a place in the newly formed body. Surprisingly, the name of senior Congress leader and former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal was also dropped after years.

According to party insiders, the reshuffle in the advisory council is being attributed to the BJP’s changed leadership in Chandigarh.

Discontentment among BJP leaders

“Governor dropping senior BJP leaders from this year’s advisory council has stirred discontentment within the party and gives hint on the internal dynamics influencing the new list. The new leadership prioritised names that do not have long-affiliations to the party and sidelined the seasoned leaders. There is frustration among loyalists who have worked for decades to build the party’s foundation,” a senior BJP leader said.

Though senior leaders claimed that BJP’s local unit president Jatinder Malhotra and Sanjay Tandon were consulted before reconstituting the committee and were asked to suggest names, excluding Tandon’s name came as a surprise to them.

“Names like Satya Pal Jain and Pawan Kumar Bansal were included year after year as they contributed so much to the city. They had their legal and parliamentary experience which would bring diverse knowledge for the society. But, the names of indirect BJP-affiliated members have been included this time, even when they are not prominent figures of the city or the ones having major contribution in policy making or city’s development. Only those having connections with new leadership have been preferred. The party leaders showed strong resentment as to why no names of women leaders, leaders representing villages, or other communities were included in the list,” said another senior leader, adding that instead of cutting short the list from 60 names to 54 names, it should have been extended with names of senior party leaders.

BJP writes to UT administrator

Senior deputy mayor and BJP leader Kuljeet Singh Sandhu wrote a letter to the UT administrator on Wednesday, stating, “We request representation for Chandigarh’s 23 villages in the advisory council. No members from these villages are part of it. As you may know, sarpanches and gram panchayat members play crucial roles in local governance. Their inclusion would ensure diverse perspectives and effective decision-making. Therefore, I respectfully request consideration of former sarpanches, gram panchayat samiti chairpersons, former market committee chairpersons, zila parishad members and prominent members of these villages for membership in the council.”