Suspense over BJP pick from Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, April 1

Even as the BJP has announced six candidates on Saturday, the party has kept its cards for the Hoshiarpur (reserved) Lok Sabha seat close to its chest.

Party Stronghold since 2014

• The seat has been with the BJP since 2014 when Vijay Sampla won and became a Union Minister of State
• In 2019, BJP’s Som Parkash contested and won the seat
• Since the names of the two leaders did not figure in the first list of six candidates, party insiders are of the opinion that the party has still not been able to build a consensus on their names and may make a change this time

The Hoshiarpur seat holds importance for the saffron party as it is one of the three seats that the party had been contesting on its symbol even when it was in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

The party has been holding onto the seat since 2014 when Vijay Sampla won from here and became the Union Minister of State. In 2019, the BJP’s Som Parkash won the seat.

Since the names of the two leaders did not appear in the first list of six candidates, party insiders are of the opinion that the party has still not built a consensus on their names and could rethink of making a change this time.

The BJP’s central leadership is learnt to be planning to field a new candidate this time.

As the party has already announced the candidature of three turncoats, Preneet Kaur from Patiala, Sushil kumar Rinku from Jalandhar and Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana, in addition to newcomer Taranjit Sandhu, a diplomat, from Amritsar, there is a general sentiment that locals could be given a chance on the remaining seats.

Internally, the names of Anita Som Parkash, wife of Som Parkash, Mahinder Kaur Josh, former Akali leader who joined the BJP two years ago, and Dr Dilbagh Rai, who contested from the Chabbewal Assembly segment in 2022, are under consideration. But the party does not want to take any chance on a weak candidate from this parliamentary constituency.

The names of Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, former Congress MLA who joined AAP last month, and Congress MLA from Adampur Sukhwinder Kotli have been doing rounds.

Since Chabbewal attended the anti-Modi protest in the National Capital yesterday, there are grim chances of his shifting again.

Kotli has outrightly denied any reports of switching over to a new political party.