Former MLA stakes claim to BJP ticket from Jawali segment

Peeved over the denial of the BJP ticket to contest the last Assembly elections in December 2022, former Jawali MLA Arjun Thakur has begun mobilising his supporters for the next state elections due in 2027. He convened a meeting of his supporters and BJP workers at Katholi near Nagrota Surian in Jawali on Sunday evening and staked claim to the BJP ticket from the Jawali seat for the next Assembly elections. Katholi falls in the adjoining gram panchayat of Sanjay Guleria, who was awarded the BJP ticket in the last Assembly elections. Arjun Thakur had lost to Congress candidate and incumbent Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar.

Thakur gave a clarion call to party workers to unite and said that he would “definitely contest” the 2027 Assembly elections from Jawali. He added that if the BJP wanted to wrest the Jawali seat from the Congress, it should not repeat the “mistake” of the 2022 Assembly elections.

He said that in the 2017 Assembly elections, he had defeated Chander Kumar by a record margin of over 8,000 votes. He added after his victory, the then Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government had initiated several development works in the Nagrota Surian, Jawali and Kotla areas of the constituency.

He said that a new Block Development Office (BDO) was opened at Jawali during the previous BJP regime but the Congress after forming government in the state de-notified it. He alleged that the Congress government had also shifted the 53-year-old BDO office from Nagrota Surian to Jawali.

Thakur said that a four-storey building of the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Nagrota Surian was constructed and upgraded to a 50-bed facility during the previous BJP government but the present Congress government de-notified it as well. “These decisions have harmed public interest,” he lamented.

He said that if he was elected MLA in 2027, the relocated BDO office would be re-established at Nagrota Surian and the de-notified development block office at Jawali would be notified again. Party workers raised slogans in support of Arjun Thakur.

Earlier, on his arrival at Katholi, hundreds of BJP workers and villagers accorded him a warm welcome and garlanded him. He honoured veteran BJP worker Achhar Singh by presenting him with a shawl and a cap.