Sunil Jakhar as he takes over as state party chief

Sunil Jakhar as he takes over as state party chief

Chandigarh: Taking a jibe over again having an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal, Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar said the saffron party must shed the tag of “younger brother” (junior ally). Speaking after formally assuming the charge as BJP state president, Jakhar said the alliance with the SAD was a “tale of the past and it was formed in mid-1990s when the situation was different”. “Punjab is ours. With changed times, we need to change our way of thinking,” he said.

Jakhar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had shown faith in him. “My first duty is to make you realise of your strength. We must win hearts of Punjabis before thinking of winning the seats,” he said while addressing BJP office-bearers and party workers.

He said India is the world’s largest secular country and there was no bigger secular state in the country than Punjab. “We must defend communal harmony in Punjab,” he said.

Former Gujarat chief minister and Punjab affairs incharge Vijay Rupani also laid emphasis on contesting all 13 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Punjab. “We must keep communal harmony in the state intact,” said Rupani.

Former BJP state president Avinash Rai Khanna said the party must be ready to contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. Former cabinet minister Rana Gurmeet Sodhi said people in Punjab were looking towards the BJP with a new hope.

Bringing groupism in the Punjab BJP out in the open, the outgoing state president Ashwani Sharma failed to turn up. Even during his speech, Rupani said he was missing Sharma. Earlier, when he was removed from the post, Sharma did not congratulate Jakhar and only thanked the party workers for standing by him. When Jakhar was appointed president, a group of people close to Sharma had publicly expressed their anger.

However, after the function– in a tweet–Sharma said that he couldn’t attend the function because he was unwell.