BJP might expel veteran leader Chunni Lal Bhagat

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, July 17

Days after his son Mohinder Bhagat won the the Jalandhar West Assembly bypoll on the AAP ticket, the BJP is reportedly contemplating to expel its veteran leader and former minister Chunni Lal Bhagat.

Five days ahead of the voting, the 92-year-old leader had released a video seeking support for his son. He had also celebrated victory of his son along with the AAP leaders at his residence.

The BJP’s district leadership is learnt to have recommended his expulsion to the state leadership, which may take action in the coming days. The BJP’s leaders said decision related to expulsion of Chunni Lal Bhagat was taken soon after he released the video, but it was kept on hold.

BJP state general secretary Anil Sarin said: “I am not aware of any such recommendation. It is for the state disciplinary committee to take a call.” The decision in this regard would take a few more days as the BJP state president Sunil Jakhar is learnt to be abroad.

Several party leaders in Jalandhar want the veteran to be expelled to send out a strong message to the cadre. “We know that he has already retired from active politics. Expelling or not expelling him will not have any bearing on the BJP’s functioning. But if no action is taken against him, the morale of the party workers will be affected. We used his pictures on the banners in the Lok Sabha poll. Being an old loyalist of the party, he should have stayed away from the political activities of Mohinder Bhagat,” said a party leader.

The senior party functionaries stated that Chunni Lal Bhagat was not linked with the RSS. “He manufactured cricket balls. In 1997, Jalandhar South was declared a reserved seat. The party did not have any SC candidate. Chunni Lal Bhagat was picked because of the strength of his community. He became MLA thrice from that segment,” they said.