BJP’s Sunil Jakhar may open new front against Congress in Punjab politics

The quitting of Congress by former PPCC president Sunil Jakhar to join rival BJP has not come as surprise as Congress had already issued a show-cause notice to Jakhar over his criticism of former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

Image courtesy: ANI

Chandigarh: Notwithstanding the public welfare, the majority of politicians if not all, aspire to acquire extra-constitutional powers even if they have to switch their loyalty to the political party whom they have been censuring even for the tiniest of their faults.

The genesis of this opportunism and discontentment which compel them to form new allegiance often lies in their disregard by their own party’s high command owing to various factors including their pretentious verbiage, the habit of mendacity, both within the party and among the public, and above all their unfulfilled political ambitions. 

The quitting of Congress by former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Sunil Jakhar to join rival Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has not come as surprise as Congress had already issued a show-cause notice to Jakhar over his criticism of former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi even as the party’s disciplinary panel had recommended his suspension from the party. 

It is pertinent to mention that early this year, perturbed with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision not to make him the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the Punjab Assembly election, Sunil Jakhar had decided to quit active electoral politics. 

To avoid an unceremonious exit from the party, Jakhar chose to join the BJP which is already looking for credible Hindu and Sikh faces in the state after the saffron party’s long-time alliance partner SAD(B) parted ways over the issue of farmers' agitation. 

In the past, Jakhar claimed to have the support of 42 MLAs who wanted him to be the chief minister of Punjab yet it was Charanjit Singh Channi who became the choice of the party high command which irked Jakhar and widened the wedge between him and the top leadership of the Congress. 

What role Jakhar, who belongs to the Jat community, will play in the state politics as a BJP leader is not yet clear but rumours abound that the saffron party will utilize his political experience and image not only in Punjab but neighbouring Rajasthan as well as in Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. 

Sunil Jakhar, who in the recent past quit the Congress with a ‘good luck and goodbye message’, could be the BJP's Hindu face in Punjab and emerge as a towering leader like his father Balram Jakhar, who was not only a popular farmer leader but also Speaker of Lok Sabha and Union Agriculture minister.