Now, BJP okay with no mention in govt publicity

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 26

Caving in completely to the Shiromani Akali Dal, with whom the party has an alliance in the state as well as the Centre, the BJP leadership feels it has no reason for any grouse with the Akalis even if they are not mentioned in advertisements and booklets about the 10 years of development under the SAD-BJP government in its two tenures.

None other than state president Vijay Sampla and newly appointed political affairs incharge Narinder Tomar said this in their press briefing after holding a meeting with SAD president Sukhbir Badal.

The BJP has also “abandoned” the issue of drug menace in the state. After listing it as its top issue in the 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto for the state, the party is in no mood to carry the issue to the 2017 Assembly elections.

Sampla insisted the issue has died as latest surveys of the state government — through police recruitment — have shown that only one per cent of the youths were addicted to drugs.

However, BJP minister Chunni Lal Bhagat today said that he was upset with the omission of names and photos of BJP leaders from the public advertisements issued by the government. Bhagat noted that the Akali leaders had put their photos and the party symbol prominently in those advertisements.

But at the press briefing, Sampla said, “It is no issue with us.” Tomar also expressed the same, saying no BJP leader or worker he met today complained of any step-motherly treatment. The claim is contrary to the past where BJP leaders had taken on the government for neglecting them.