Alleging casteism, BJP’s Karnal leader resigns, then withdraws it

KARNAL : Alleging casteism , BJP Kisan Morcha’s Karnal district president Satish Rana resigned from the party on Thursday, only to withdraw his resignation four hours later.

In a press conference held in the morning, Rana said that he and 20 other office-bearers had submitted their resignation to party’s state president Subhash Barala and organisation secretary Suresh Bhatt.

He alleged that Gharaunda MLA Harvinder Kalyan was promoting casteism in the party and ignoring dedicated party workers.“The MLA was elected due to the efforts of people of all castes and communities but now we are being ignored, even other party workers are being given preference over our workers,” he said alleging that he was not being allowed to sit on the stage during party programmes. “Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar are fair leaders, our office-bearers are feeling ignored due to one MLA,” said Rana.

But in the evening, Rana told Hindustan Times that he had decided to withdraw the resignation following assurance from senior party leaders. When contacted MLA Harvinder Kalyan refuted the allegations saying, “My political career is based on development and there is no discrimination on basis of caste.”