Over a year after three-time MLA and one-time MP Sunil Kumar Jakhar left the Congress party after hinting that the non-acceptance of a Hindu face was the reason behind not making him the Punjab Chief Minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday officially declared him its state unit president. The strategic move comes at a time when the saffron party, going solo in Punjab for the first time in parliamentary polls, is strengthening its base in otherwise a Sikh-dominated State.

It was under Jakhar's leadership that the Congress wrested control of the state from the SAD-BJP combine after 10 years in March 2017 assembly polls. He was also instrumental in the Congress winning eight out of 11 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2019 polls defying the nationwide Modi wave.

In 2017, Jakhar also won the Lok Sabha byelection from Gurdaspur — a seat that has been BJP’s pocket borough for the past 30 years, having been represented by the likes of Vinod Khanna and Sunny Deol.

A former Congressman carrying the rich political legacy of his father Balram Jakhar — the longest-serving Lok Sabha Speaker and a Union Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government, Jakhar had shifted his loyalties to the BJP in May 2022 — nearly 26 years after he lost his first election from Ferozepur Lok Sabha segment in 1996.

Just over 13 months in the party, the BJP top leadership has handed over the party reins in Punjab to Jakhar — who not only has wide experience in handling the party affairs but also enjoys considerable presence among the masses, both rural and urban. BJP chief JP Nadda had also inducted Jakhar in his national executive committee in December last.

Replacing senior BJP leader Ashwani Sharma as Punjab BJP chief, Jakhar’s appointment comes as a part of the saffron party’s nationwide ongoing organizational restructuring — that also saw the appointments of new party presidents in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Jharkhand.

With a senior Hindu-Jat leader like Jakhar — who is politically well-connected, with a clean image, and enjoys support among all sections, BJP is confident of expanding its base in Punjab —currently ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

His elevation as the state BJP chief may help the saffron party in not only wooing the Jat community, but also winning back the Hindu votes — that has always been the BJP’s vote bank but is believed to have drifted towards AAP in 2022 state assembly polls. Notably, the Hindus constitute a little over 38 per cent population in Punjab.

Moreover, Jakhar’s claims of Congress having ignored him for the Chief Minister’s post just because he was Hindu also matches with the BJP’s ‘Hindu party image’. Punjab Congress’ former president, mincing no words ahead of 2022 polls, had even asserted that the “denial of a post on the basis of religion in a democratic and secular setup is completely unfair. Though some tend to overlook it, the approach is completely unacceptable to him”.

BJP, which contested 65 seats in 2023 Punjab polls, could win just two seats with a vote share of a little over six percent. However, BJP is looking at the silver lining — an increase in its vote share, its expansion in Punjab where it has all along been playing a second fiddle to SAD, and foraying into unexplored territories.

In 2017, the party won three seats out of 23 it contested with a vote share of 5.3 percent, which, this time (in 2022), has increased to 6.6 percent — witnessing an increase of 1.3 percent.

Challenges Ahead

Expanding the party’s support base, especially in rural segments which were earlier taken care of by the Akali Dal, fortifying the party cadre and reaching out to them before taking the saffron party’s agenda to the masses are among the lot of challenges waiting for Jakhar as he took over the party reins in Punjab.

Appointment of a turncoat, who joined BJP just 13 months before, as Punjab unit president has led to a simmering discontentment among the party’s core cadre. BJP’s former MLA Arun Narang, who won Abohar assembly segment in 2017 assembly election defeating Jakhar—then a Congress candidate, has resigned from all the party posts after Jakhar’s elevation, accusing the party high command of ignoring the party’s leaders.

Hours after being appointed as Punjab BJP president, Jakhar on Tuesday said that his party will play the role of opposition in the border state. the Punjab BJP chief designate, Jakhar will be meeting senior party leaders, including party’s national president JP Nadda and BL Santosh, among others, on Wednesday.