After Cong, BSP, Karnal ex-MP may enter BJP fold

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, May 20

Speculation is rife that former Congress MP Arvind Sharma may join the BJP. Not only did he share the dais with Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma today, but reached the venue by the same car as well.

The former Karnal MP praised Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during a programme to mark Parshuram Jayanti here.

However, he left the gathering guessing about his future plans. He said he would take a decision in this regard after consulting his supporters.

Sharma had quit the Congress to join the BSP during the Assembly elections in 2014. He had been declared the chief ministerial candidate by BSP supremo Mayawati. The party had won only one seat with Sharma losing from both seats.

Sources close to the former MP claimed that he might join the BJP in the presence of BJP national president Amit Shah during his visit to Karnal in the first week of June, but Sharma remained tight-lipped on the issue.

“I have left the BSP and will decide my future strategy soon after consultations with my supporters,” he said in response to queries from media persons about his entry into the BJP fold.

Sharma asserted that he would ensure a bigger gathering at the programme to be chaired by Shah in Karnal next month.

Praising Khattar, he said, “He is an honest person, but needs to focus more on the GT Road. If the BJP wants to win again, it has to concentrate on jobs and development in this belt.”

Sharma said the state had had Chief Ministers from Rohtak, Sirsa, Bhiwani and Hisar, but there had always been a demand to have a Chief Minister from the GT Road area. Only the BJP understood the sentiments by choosing Khattar as the Chief Minister, he added.

Praising Ram Bilas, the former MP said the BJP had contested elections under his leadership, but selected Khattar as the Chief Minister, which the Brahmin leader accepted as a decision of the party.

Sharma urged Khattar to take special care of the people of Karnal and Panipat to become the Chief Minister again. His supporters raised slogans that he be made the next Chief Minister.

When Ram Bilas was asked about the former MP joining the BJP, he said everybody wanted to join the BJP and he was not an exception. “Everybody is welcome in the party,” he said.

Addressing the gathering, he said a state-level function to mark Parshuram Jayanti would be organised in Karnal in the first week of June and Shah would chair the function.

INLD national general secretary Brij Sharma and former Union Minister of State for Home ID Swami were present on the occasion.