Mix of old and new guards as BJP revamps Punjab unit; see full list

Chandigarh: The BJP on Sunday announced the appointment of new office-bearers to its Punjab unit in a revamp having a mix of old and new guards.

The move comes two months after Sunil Jakhar was appointed the unit’s chief. The BJP in Punjab has inducted former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Union minister Som Parkash, former MP Vijay Sampla, ex-finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, former Lok Sabha deputy speaker and ex-SAD MLA Charanjit Singh Atwal in its core group.

Among other names in its 21-member core group are former Congress leaders Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Raj Kumar Verka and Kewal Singh Dhillon, former Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma, Avinash Rai Khanna and Tikshan Sood, according to a list issued by the Punjab BJP.

Party leaders Subhash Sharma, Surjit Kumar Jayani, K D Bhandari and Rajesh Bagha, and former Congress leaders Arvind Khanna, Fatehjang Singh Bajwa, Balbir Singh Sidhu and Gurpreet Singh Kangar have been appointed as the BJP’s state vice presidents.

Prominent names among the 12 new state secretaries include former Congress MLA Harjot Kamal, Shivraj Chaudhary, Sanjeev Khanna, Daaman Thind Bajwa, Renu Kashyap and Karanveer Singh Tohra.

Jai Inder Kaur, the daughter of Amarinder Singh, will head the Punjab BJP’s Mahila Morcha (women’s wing), while former IAS officer S R Ladhar has been made the head of the party’s Scheduled Castes wing.

The BJP’s national vice president Saudan Singh, national general secretary Tarun Chugh, parliamentary board member Iqbal Singh Lalpura, state in-charge Vijay Rupani, state co-in-charge Narinder Raina and general secretary organisation Manthri Srinivasulu will be the special invitees to the core committee of the party’s Punjab unit.

The appointments were approved by BJP president J P Nadda, the party’s Punjab unit said on ‘X’.