New Delhi, (Samajweekly) The BJP, which is all set contest Punjab Assembly polls on its own for the first time after its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) walked away from the alliance, will be reaching out to leaders in the opposition camp, intellectuals, prominent personalities or influencers with a request to join the saffron camp.
The BJP leadership feels that inducting people from different walks of life will help the party in next year’s Assembly polls.
A BJP functionary said that joining of political leaders from other parties, prominent persons and influencers will help in building favourable perception for the party.
“These people will help the party in building a positive perception among the masses which will help immensely during the elections. Some intellectuals joined the BJP in June, and they will help the BJP counter the perception that people in Punjab are unhappy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP,” he said.
To build the perception in its favour, the BJP is looking for prominent faces, including academicians, professionals like doctors and advocates and retired bureaucrats and defence personnel.
Highlighting the importance of prominent citizens, a party leader said that all of them will not ask for tickets to contest the polls but help immensely in building a favourable atmosphere in the whole electoral process.
“Apart from these, the party is also in touch with the disgruntled leaders of other parties,” sources said.
On Monday, a former national general secretary of Akali Dal’s women wing, Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, and SAD leaders Gurpreet Singh Shahpur, Chand Singh Chatha, Baljinder Singh Dakoha and Pritam Singh had joined the BJP. A former TV anchor, Chetan Mohan Joshi, also joined the saffron party on Monday.
In June, six prominent personalities — Harinder Singh Kahlon, Jagmohan Singh Saini, Nirmal Singh, Kuldeep Singh Kahlon, Jaswinder Singh Dhillon and Jaibans Singh — had joined the BJP at its national headquarters in Delhi.
BJP national spokesperson, R.P. Singh, said that the process of people joining the party is on and more people will join the BJP from different walks of life in future, including leaders from other parties.
