Feeling left out after the defeat of its stalwart, the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought “adequate” representation in “power” in New Delhi.
The party has claimed that the Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, who lost 2014 lok Sabha elections from Amritsar constituency, is representing the State of Gujarat in the Cabinet as Rajya Sabha member, and no MP from the state has been rewarded with a Cabinet berth.The demand was set forth by the State BJP leadership as the reports of cabinet expansion by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi are doing the rounds.
Sources told The Pioneer that the senior party leadership from Punjab has started to express its displeasure that its MPs have failed to find ministerial berths, despite good performance.Punjab BJP has two lok Sabha MPs — Vinod Khanna (Gurdaspur) and Vijay Sampla (Hoshiarpur), and one Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna.As of now, Punjab is represented by Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the daughter-in-law of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. She has been given the charge of Food Processing Ministry.
The saffron party has won two out of the three seats it contested during 2014 general elections. While the party scored emphatic win in Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur — the seats it lost in 2009 lok Sabha polls, and faced a resounding defeat in Amritsar — where it had a sitting MP.BJP has increased its vote share from 7.18 per cent in 2012 to 8.7 per cent in 2014 polls, while the SAD’s vote share has dipped from 34.73 per cent in 2012 assembly polls, to 26.3 per cent.
As the BJP managed to improve its tally by one seat as compared to the 2009 polls coupled with increase in its vote share by almost one per cent despite “not-so-good” performance by its ally — the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the party was expecting a cabinet berth to former Union Minister and Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna.
Even as the actor-turned-politician and a senior BJP leader was not given any place in the Union Cabinet during the round one, the State party unit is expecting a berth in Modi’s council of Ministers which he would reportedly augment by inducting 20-30 more Ministers.“Arun Jaitley, who contested from Amritsar and lost to Capt Amarinder Singh, can hardly be considered a representative of Punjab…Even in the Parliament, he is a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat,” pointed a senior BJP leader, who did not wish to be named.
It has been learnt that the State BJP leadership has been pressurizing the central party leadership to induct Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna into the Cabinet, who defeated the State Congress party president Partap Singh Bajwa by 1.36 lakh votes.“The State party unit should have at least on member in the Union Cabinet to take care of the State’s issues and concerns. Vinod Khanna, being former Union Minister and four-time MP now, should be rewarded for defeating Congress stalwart and party chief,” added the BJP leader.
The majority of additions to the present 45-member cabinet are expected to be as Ministers of State, though a few allocations are expected to be made in cabinet portfolios like Defence, which Jaitley is holding currently along with Finance.