BJP mulls going it alone in state Assembly poll
Monday, 13/10/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20141013/punjab.htm#7
Chandigarh : Senior leaders and workers of the Punjab BJP discussed the possibility of the party contesting the Assembly elections on its own in 2017, instead of partnering with the SAD. The issue was discussed at a meeting held in Karnal.
Though BJP secretary Tarun Chugh denied having given any call to the workers to prepare for contesting the Punjab Assembly elections alone in 2017, sources insist he and other leaders wanted the momentum gained in Haryana to be carried over to Punjab.
Chugh reportedly declared at the meeting that "Haryana to ek jhanki hai, Punjab abhi baki hai". Sources said Chug told workers "we are contesting independently in Haryana and Maharashtra, we should also get ready to contest elections independently in Punjab".
Chugh, however, told The Tribune that he was talking about Assembly elections in Bihar and Jharkhand. He was simply propagating PM Narendra Modi's idea of wiping out the Congress from the country, he claimed. However, a press note about the meeting quoted him saying the results of the Haryana Assembly elections would have far-reaching consequences on the political situation in northern states.
State office-bearers of the Punjab BJP who attended the meeting included state general secretaries Rakesh Rathore and Jagtar Singh Saini, state vice-president Sarbjit Kaur Bath, state secretaries Archana Dutt and Subhash Sharma, minister Anil Joshi, CPS KD Bhandari, Vice-Chairman (Cabinet rank) Punjab State Planning Board, Chairman Water and Sewerage Board Punjab Vinod Sharma, Chairman of the Khadi Board Harjit Singh Grewal, Chairman of the District Planning Board Hoshiarpur Jawahar Khurana, MP Vijay Sampla, MLA Ashwani Sharma, former Cabinet minister Arunesh Shakar, ex-CPS Raj Khurana, and ex-MP Gurcharan Kaur.
