PUNJAB BJP KEEN TO CONTEST 4 LS SEATS
18th November 2008
Punjab BJP is still keen to contest four Parliament seats in Punjab despite the fact that senior BJP leader LK Advani during his recent visit to Ludhiana has declared that the party would contest on the three seats offered by its alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
Interestingly, Punjab Congress president Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in her Press conference on Monday alleged that BJP and SAD have developed serious differences. Punjab BJP president Rajinder Bhadari and Manohar Lal in-charge of party affairs of North India declared that the BJP was still of the view that it should contest four seats.
The party had won three Lok Sabha seats of Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur in the last elections. This time the BJP has been demanding four seats based on the performance of the party in last Assembly elections. The BJP had won 19 Assembly seats, which is a record so far. Bhandari and Manohar Lal, who held series of meetings with district in-charge and block and district level office bearers here, said that the BJP would press for four seats from SAD.
Bhandari said that Advani had given the statement in routine on being asked by reporters. He, however, insisted that the matter would go to central election committee for final decision. He said that the BJP had already announced names of its sitting candidates from Amritsar -- Navjot Singh Sidhu and Gurdaspur -- Vinod Khanna. He said that the party had won the third seat of Hoshiarpur.
Since four Assembly segments of Hoshiarpur are attached with newly created Lok Sabha seat of Anandpur Sahib, the BJP has staked its claim over Ananadpur Sahib seat. The demand has faced stiff opposition from Akali Dal circles considering religious importance of Anandpur Sahib, which is one of the four religious seats of Sikhs. Amritsar, the place where Akal Takht is located is already in the control of BJP.
The BJP is understood to have told the SAD to consider giving any two seats out of Anandpur Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur and Ludhiana. SAD leadership, however, is not ready to give fourth seat to the BJP on the plea that it would disturb their party cadre. The party leaders also discussed the strategy to be adopted during Lok Sabha elections in the different meetings with party cader here.
Bhandari said that the feedback taken from the parity cadre would be sent to the party high command. He said that all the BJP Ministers and senior party leaders of Punjab had been assigned duties in the neighbouring States of Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi. Manohar Lal said that the party has started membership drive in the party and district units have been asked to pay full attention to it.
Source: Punjab Mail Online