Leave Sangrur seat for us, BJP tells Akali Dal
Thursday, 18/02/2016
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/politics/leave-sangrur-seat-for-us-bjp-tells-akali-dal/197824.html
Sangrur : In view of its increasing influence among the masses in the Malwa belt, the BJP has staked its claim on the Sangrur Assembly seat to field its candidate in the 2017 Assembly elections.
Party leaders feel that the BJP has a strong base in Sangrur and it is also in a position to win the seat in assistance with its alliance partner SAD.
At present, Parkash Chand Garg of the SAD is the MLA from Sangrur.
Talking to The Tribune here today, state secretary of Punjab BJP Jatinder Kalra said it was the right time for the SAD to hand over the Sangrur seat to the BJP to encourage the BJP cadre to work with full force for the SAD-BJP alliance in the Assembly poll.
He said in eight districts — Sangrur, Bathinda, Barnala, Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar, Moga and Fatehgarh Sahib — of this part of the Malwa belt, not a single seat since 1997 had been allotted by the SAD to the BJP. This has demoralised the party cadre.
Besides Kalra, Sangrur-1 district president of the party Capt Ram Singh today said that in the larger interest of the alliance, the SAD should honour the BJP’s claim and leave the Sangrur seat to the BJP.
Staking the party’s claim on the Sangrur seat, Kalra said the BJP (formerly Jan Sangh) had a long history of contesting elections from Sangrur. So its claim to contest from Sangrur was justified.
He said he would write to the central high command on the issue. He said in the 1953 Assembly elections, Nanak Chand Kalra contested from Sangrur as “Jan Sangh” candidate while in the 1992 Assembly elections, Thakur Jagdish Rai contested from Sangrur as BJP candidate.
In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, Harjit Singh Grewal contested from Sangrur as the BJP candidate.
In the 1977 Assembly elections, the candidate of the Janta Party had won from Sangrur.
Jatinder Kalra and Captain Ram Singh said this showed that the BJP had strong roots and base in the Sangrur Assembly constituency.
