ASHWANI SHARMA TO BE NEW PUNJAB BJP CHIEF
CHANDIGARH: Former Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma will be new Punjab BJP chief. It will be his second tenure as party president. BJP’S Punjab affairs in-charge and Rajya Sabha member, Prabhat Jha said Sharma’s name was finalised for the top job by the high-command after a meeting on Tuesday evening. Sharma will be formally declared as new state party chief after internal election of the party scheduled on January 17 scheduled in Jalandhar. As per party’s election schedule, he will file his nomination papers on January 16 in presence of national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe.
CHANDIGARH: By choosing former Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma to lead party ahead of assembly polls scheduled in Punjab in 2022, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command has tried to pick the “best” among the lot.
Even as Sharma’s first tenure as the state party chief between 2009 and 2012 was termed “dissatisfactory” by many in the state unit, the BJP high command preferred him over others as under his leadership in 2012, the party won 12 out of the 23 seats it contested in the state.
Many senior leaders in Punjab unit term Sharma’s elevation to the top post as “sheer luck” as according to them, he is neither a good orator nor an impressive manager.
A graduate in arts, Sharma started his career as a grassroots worker at the booth-level.
Sharma’s name was finalised by the party high command after a detailed discussion over a panel of possible names, which also included names of national secretary Tarun Chugh, Rss backed candidate Narinder Parmar and former minister Manoranjan Kalia.
In 2009, Kalia, who was the cabinet minister then, played a decisive role in Sharma’s appointment as the state BJP chief. But this time, Kalia himself was the contender for the post with the support of former Union minister Vijay Sampla and party’s national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna. Around 2pm on Tuesday, Chugh opted out of the race by declaring on his Facebook page that he was happy serving the party at the national-level.
A senior party functionary said Sharma’s name was recommended by state affairs in-charge Parbhat Jha and state organisation secretary Dinesh Sharma. They managed to convince the high command that only he (Sharma) has the capability of leading the party in the 2022 assembly polls, he said.
Party functionaries say Jha didn’t leave any stone unturned to tilt the scale in Sharma’s favour and also convince Union minister of state Som Parkash, former minister Tikshan Sud and state secretary Subhash Sharma (all from the group earlier led by Kamal Sharma who passed away recently) to support the ex-pathankot legislator.
BJP’S organisational in-charge for northeast states Ajay Jamwal, who remained the state organisation secretary for Punjab when Sharma was state party chief, also said to have played a key role in his elevation. Jamwal is known as Sharma’s political mentor.
Sharma represented Pathankot segment between 2012 and 2017 and lost the 2017 assembly polls to Amit Vij of the Congress by a margin of over 11,000 votes.
Sharma’s appointment is also seen as a setback for incumbent state party chief and Rajya Sabha member Shwait Malik who was eying second term.
Challenges are aplenty for Sharma as the party in Punjab is in complete disarray. In 2017 assembly polls, the party could win only seats. It lost Phagwara in the 2019 bypoll, necessitated by the election of sitting MLA Som Parkash as MP.