Ashwani Sharma Takes Charge as Punjab BJP working prez, Launches Fierce Attack on CM
Senior Punjab BJP leader and Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma on Sunday minced no words as he tore into Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, accusing him of turning governance into a “three-year circus” and vowing that the BJP would respond to the Aam Aadmi Party’s “street politics” in the same language — “but four times louder”.
Sharma, formally assuming charge as the state’s working president on Sunday at the party headquarters in Chandigarh, received a thunderous welcome from thousands of workers and top BJP leaders, including Punjab unit president Sunil Jakhar and Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu. The event was marked by the presence of key state and national figures like Rajya Sabha MP Satnam Singh Sandhu, former Union Minister Preneet Kaur, former Ministers Manpreet Badal and Tikshan Sood, ex-MP Sushil Rinku, and several former MLAs and senior party office bearers.
Addressing the crowd, Sharma launched a scathing critique of CM Mann, accusing him of trivializing governance through theatrics and distractions. “Instead of solving real issues — unemployment, sacrilege, drug menace, and lawlessness, he’s busy staging political spectacles,” Sharma said. He reminded Mann of AAP’s unfulfilled promises, especially the much-publicized pledge to eradicate drugs within 30 days, and questioned the failure to deliver justice in the Bargari sacrilege case even after a special Assembly session.
Sharma further slammed the government’s failure to raise Punjab’s interests at the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), claiming that the state’s 2,550 vacant posts remained unfilled for years. “Instead of taking up the issue in BBMB board meetings, Mann resorted to token resolutions in the Assembly and Cabinet,” he said.
Referring to Mann’s campaign ‘Yudh Nashe De Virudh’ and other special Assembly sessions, Sharma called them attempts to deflect attention from AAP’s growing failures and internal controversies. He also cited alarming law and order issues — gang violence, extortion, custodial deaths, and rising crimes against women — as evidence of administrative collapse.
Sharma reserved his sharpest criticism for Mann’s language and political conduct. “If you speak the language of the street, you’ll be answered in the same tongue — and louder,” he said, adding that the BJP was “not afraid” and was ready to take the fight to the streets.
With Assembly elections in 2027 drawing closer, Sharma’s aggressive tone signals a renewed push by the BJP to revive its cadre and position itself as a serious contender in Punjab’s volatile political landscape.
