BJP faces trouble in Punjab as new entrants and 'original' leaders fight for turf

New Delhi: All is not well with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Punjab. It is turning out to be a battle between new entrants in the party and “original” leaders who owe allegiance to the saffron ideology.

Sources stated that the Punjab BJP is facing a fight from within to seek its rightful place in state politics and successfully take on the Aam Aadmi Party. The plan of the central leadership is facing trouble over the past few months as BJP's local leaders and cadre have been feeling left out with several senior Congress entrants to the saffron unit seemingly stealing the limelight.  

The "original" leaders and cadre of the saffron unit in the border state are feeling let down by the BJP as the influence of new entrants like former Chief Minister Captain (retired) Amarinder Singh, former ministers Manpreet Badal, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Raj Kumar Verka, former Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar and Jaiveer Shergill seems to be growing.

With just about a year to go for Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is trying to gain a foothold in Punjab amid growing violence and deteriorating law and order situation. The BJP is desperately trying to pin down the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab over the issue of deteriorating these issues and the looming terror threat.

The BJP feels that the recent incidents of violence by Nihangs and Waris Punjab De followers have added to the woes of AAP and it is eyeing an opportunity to grow in Punjab with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party embroiled in one controversy after the other.

Sources pointed out that even in the last Assembly elections almost one-third of the total candidates of the party were turncoats, mainly from the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Reporting their displeasure to the saffron unit, several senior state BJP leaders claim that they had been followers of Sangh ideology for the past several decades. However, now the sole criteria for the new entrants to the BJP seems to be winnability in polls and ideology has seemingly taken a back seat, sources said.

Why BJP doesn’t want to play second fiddle

The state BJP has been troubled over the past several years as its growth was constrained at the cost of its ally, with the Shirmani Akali Dal taking the driver’s seat. While the central BJP leadership had earlier let the state unit play second fiddle for the sake of its alliance, the central leadership now is taking on a more aggressive posture in the border state.  

In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP was able to secure only two seats in the state, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to seek a third term in 2024, the importance of Punjab in the BJP's political numbers game has increased immensely.

Punjab elects 13 MPs to the lower house of the Parliament and the saffron unit hopes to increase its strength of seats in Lok Sabha from Punjab in the 2024 polls.

The central leadership of the BJP believes that the party has a lot of scopes to adjust these new leaders with preparations for Lok Sabha 2024 underway.

The party’s performance in Punjab will depend on how it is able to manage its original cadre and leadership while at the same time deploying new entrants within its folds. 

The plan to assimilate these leaders into the saffron fold has already been put in place with the BJP launching ‘Nasha Mukti Yatra’ and other public contact programmes to increase reach amongst voters in all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state. Various senior leaders from the central unit of the party are expected to participate in the yatra.

Through these awareness and contact programmes, the BJP hopes to integrate the old and new guards within the saffron front. The party is trying to avoid any rebellion for an improved contribution in the saffron front kitty from Punjab in the 2024 general elections.