Vinod Khanna not accessible: BJP men
Thursday, 09/07/2015
http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/
Gurdaspur : Batala BJP mandal president (Civil Lines) Raghubir Singh Randhawa today resigned saying that he could not tolerate Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna’s “autocratic” attitude.
Other party workers also alleged that Khanna was not accessible to them and seldom devote time to the needs of the constituency.
Vijay Pehalwan, mandal president of Batala City, also said Kavita Khanna, the MP’s wife, recently distributed some grants in the Gandhi camp area without taking any office bearer into confidence.
“The MP’s wife came without informing the local BJP leadership. Only a handful of loyalists were kept in the loop while the party workers were not taken into confidence. As per party norms, whenever the MP has to visit a particular area, the BJP president of that area has to be informed. However, this is not happening in the Gurdaspur constituency,” said Vijay Pehalwan.
Nearly 300 party workers, led by BJP district president Romesh Sharma, yesterday waited for nearly two hours for the MP to “chair” a meeting.
Khanna, who came “late” for the meeting, said, “I am here for just two minutes as I have to catch a flight. You (party workers) should understand that apart from being an MP, I am an actor and have a family to look after. If you have any local issues, you should contact your local sarpanches, MCs or MLAs. Being an MP, I visit the constituency to ensure that Central programmes and policies are implemented in letter and spirit.”
However, his loyalists claim that the MP was never informed about the meeting. “It was a communication gap between the district president and the MP. “Khanna was never scheduled to address the meeting. He came to the venue for the courtesy’ sake,” said one of the aides of the MP.
The MP’s wife tried to pacify the agitated workers by saying that Khanna had decided to open his offices at Batala and Gurdaspur to ensure that the work of party does not suffer.
“We are already functioning from our Pathankot residence. Two more offices are being established soon,” she said.
