A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) included Punjab’s former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Punjab Congress former president Sunil Jakhar in its national executive committee, more Congress leaders, who joined the saffron brigade in the recent past, were rewarded with plum posts in the state party unit on Saturday.
As the BJP decided to retain the incumbent Ashwani Sharma as Punjab BJP president, the party announced its new team of office-bearers accommodating no less than 10 former Congress leaders, who joined the party this year, among the total 58 appointments announced on Saturday. However, the name of former Health Minister and five-time Congress MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu, who also joined the BJP, was missing from the list.
Among the 11 vice-presidents declared by BJP, six are leaders who quit the Congress recently, including Capt Amarinder’s daughter Jai Inder Kaur. Former Congress Minister Raj Kumar Verka, along with former legislators Kewal Singh Dhillon, Fateh Jung Bajwa, and Arvind Khanna have also been appointed as vice-presidents.
Besides, the party has also appointed its senior leaders from Punjab — Dr Subhash Sharma, Rakesh Rathore, Dyal Singh Sodhi, Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha, Dr Jagmohan Raju, and Jagdeep Nakai — as state vice-presidents.
Another Congress Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar has been given a prominent position of the state general secretary — a post considered to be the most powerful after the state unit chief. Besides, senior leaders Rajesh Bagha, Jiwan Gupta, Bikramjeet Singh Cheema, and Mona Jaiswal were also appointed as party general secretaries.
Among other former Congress leaders finding place in BJP state office-bearers are former MLA Dr Harjot Kamal, Jasmeen Sandhawalia, and Daaman Thind Bajwa — appointed state secretaries; and Nimisha Mehta who has been appointed as party’s spokesperson.
In all, the party has appointed 11 state secretaries, including former Youth Akali leader Parminder Singh Brar, singer-turned-politician Jasraj Singh Longia (Jassi jasraj), Anil Sachar, Rajesh Honey, Sunita Garg, Shivraj Chaudhary, Sukhwinder Kaur Naulakha, and Sanjeev Khanna.
Hoshiarpur BJP leader Meenu Sethi has been appointed president of the Mahila Morcha, while former IAS officer SR Ladhar has been appointed president of the party’s Scheduled Caste wing.
Interestingly, BJP has appointed the grandson of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s (SGPC) former president Gurucharan Singh Tohra Kanwarveer Singh Tohra as the head of its state youth wing.
Kanwarveer had contested this year’s Punjab assembly elections from Amloh but managed to get only 5,000 votes. He had joined the BJP a few days before the elections.
Other than Mehta, the party has also appointed former IAS SS Channi, Anil Sareen, Col Jaibans Singh (retd), Ashok Bharti, Iqbal Singh Channi, Gurdeep Singh Gosha, Anish Sidana, Kanwar Narender Singh, Mahender Bhagat, Jatinder Atwal, and Chetan Joshi as its spokespersons.
In its media team, the party has inducted Janardan Sharma, Sunil Singla, Surinder Kaur, and Hardev Singh Ubha.