BJP workers protest allocation of key party posts to 17 ex-Congress men in in Patiala

Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 16

The appointment of office-bearers in the local BJP cadre has resulted in a rift between BJP leaders and former Congress workers recently inducted into the party.

A number of workers who have been associated with the party for years today launched a protest alleging that they have been ignored and demanded cancellation of the appointment. This has come a week before the term of the Municipal Corporation Councillors is set to end on January 22. The MC elections are expected to take place in April.

The BJP had recently appointed KK Malhotra, who was earlier a Congress party leader and later joined Captain Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) that consequently merged into the BJP, as the party’s district president. Meanwhile, a list of 26 names for the office-bearer posts was released today which included 17 turncoats and nine workers who have been associated with the party since years.

Local workers, including Varun Jindal, Sushil Nayyar, Rahul Gupta and others, launched a protest and said the appointment should be cancelled. Varun Jindal said, “We have been associated with the party for years. When KK Malhotra was deputed as the district president, the party workers had agreed to a 30% of appointment for the newly inducted congress workers. But they have done the opposite and have appointed only nine old-time workers while the remaining posts have been given to the PLC workers who joined the party recently. We want them to drop the team or else we will continue our protest.”

Sushil Nayyar, who has been associated with the BJP since 2016, said of the three General Secretary posts, only one has been allocated to an old-time BJP worker. “Those who have been working for the party at the ground level for long have been given lower posts. Also, all five convener posts including mahila, SC, OBC morcha and others, have been allocated to those who joined recently.”

Rahul Mehta questioned if the party lacked trust in the workers associated with the BJP since years and said to mark their protest, they would not attend the party meeting being convened on Tuesday.

BJP district president said the party is yet to announce the names for 34 morcha convener posts and 45 executive members. “These posts were allocated democratically on the basis of performance of workers during the previous elections. They have been announced upon the consent of state BJP president Ashwani Sharma,” he said. Regarding the protest being staged by party workers, he said he has informed the state leadership about it.

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