BJP suspends 7 party workers

JALANDHAR: The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) suspended seven workers from the party today for contesting the municipal polls as independent candidates. The suspended workers include Sulekha Bhagat from ward number 69, Jitendra Kumar Jind from ward number 69, Davinder Singh Roni from ward number 66, Puja Trikha from ward number 17, Vimal Kumar from ward number 17, Kripal Pali from ward number 22 and Varinder Sharma from ward number 52.

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 10

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) suspended seven workers from the party today for contesting the municipal polls as independent candidates.

The suspended workers include Sulekha Bhagat from ward number 69, Jitendra Kumar Jind from ward number 69, Davinder Singh Roni from ward number 66, Puja Trikha from ward number 17, Vimal Kumar from ward number 17, Kripal Pali from ward number 22 and Varinder Sharma from ward number 52.

Confirming this, BJP’s district President Ramesh Sharma said the party had offered them a chance to withdraw their nomination to come back to the party fold, but they didn’t adhere to the directions. Following this, the party suspended them from the primary membership of the party today.

Meanwhile, the candidates have begun canvassing in their respective areas with much pomp and show. They were given a budget of Rs 2.5 lakh to be spent till December 15. While the candidates have launched a door-to-door campaign, the area MLAs and other senior leaders of various parties are busy holding backdoor meetings to ensure support for their respective party candidates.

Today, Rimpi Prabhakar, BJP candidate from ward number 61, visited the house of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) district president Kulwant Singh Mannan and seek his support for winning the seat. Mannan, while ensuring complete support, said that SAD-Akali is all set to make a hat-trick in the municipal polls this time.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Pargat Singh has managed to bring party worker Sushma Gautam and Baljit Singh Poppy to campaign for the party candidates. Gautam and Poppy were upset as they were not given party tickets from ward number 21 and 22, respectively. They had announced to contest independently for the municipal polls.

However, Congress district president Daljit Singh Ahluwalia, along with Pargat Singh, visited the two this evening and brought them back to the party fold.

AAP faces financial crunch

Call it a shocking result of the Assembly elections or the controversy surrounding the senior party leaders, including Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Khaira and Bhagwant Maan, the party is missing the pomp and show it exhibited during the Assembly elections. Sources said the party high command had asked the district unit to contest the elections with their own resources and also ensure winning maximum seats in the ongoing elections. The glam factor of NRIs supporting the party candidates or the presence of senior leaders in the canvassing too is missing this time.