BJP's Jawali candidate accuses former MLA of election sabotage
Dharamsala, December 17
Sanjay Guleria, BJP candidate from the Jawali Assembly constituency, has complained to state party president Suresh Kashyap and organising secretary Pawan Rana that some party leaders had sabotaged his election, resulting in his defeat.
In his complaint, Guleria, who contested on the BJP ticket from Jawali, alleged that former MLA Arjun Thakur and his supporters had openly worked against him in the Assembly elections. He alleged that Thakur’s supporters had not only worked against him but also in the adjoining Fatehpur constituency, where Forest Minister Rakesh Pathania was the BJP candidate. The BJP lost both Jawali and Fatehpur seats.
Guleria lost to senior Congress leader Chander Kumar in Jawali, while Rakesh Pathania to Congress’ Bhawani Singh Pathania in Fatehpur.
The BJP had denied ticket to Thakur, then sitting Jawali MLA, and fielded Guleria. The party had managed to persuade Thakur from not to contest as an Independent candidate and had forged unity among the leaders in Jawali.
Guleria admitted that he had written to Kashyap against Thakur’s anti-party activities in Jawali that led to his defeat. He said, “I filed the complaint on December 1 and it got leaked on social media.” The party should take action against the leaders working against its interests, he added.
Guleria has also levelled charges of corruption and amassing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income against some prominent BJP leaders from Jawali.
Earlier Pawan Kajal, BJP MLA from the Kangra Assembly constituency, had written to party’s national president JP Nadda alleging that some leaders, including those close to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, had worked against him during the elections.
