Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma ‘lobbying’ for Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat

BJP workers are unhappy with incumbent MP Sunny Deol whose absence may cost BJP the Gurdaspur LS seat.

NEW DELHI: As Lok Sabha elections inch closer, politicians have started lobbying for tickets. According to sources, Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma is pushing his name for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat.
Ashwani Sharma won the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections from Pathankot, which lies in the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. Sharma first entered the Punjab Assembly in 2012 by securing 42,218 votes. In 2017, Ashwani Sharma lost the Pathankot seat to Congress candidate Amit Vij, who got 56,383 votes and Sharma got 45,213 votes. In 2022, Sharma clinched the seat from Amit Vij with 43,132 votes. In 2019, BJP only won two Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. The Gurdaspur seat was won by Sunny Deol and the Hoshiarpur seat was won by Som Parkash.
There are various challenges for the BJP ahead of the general elections. As The Sunday Guardian has reported earlier, Sunny Deol’s absence may cost the BJP the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. BJP workers and voters are not happy with incumbent MP Sunny Deol and this resentment could impact the BJP candidate in the 2024 elections. Another problem is factionalism. In the last one year, various leaders from Congress and Akali Dal joined the BJP and they were also given plum posts in the party; this has irked the old workers.
The Gurdaspur Lok Sabha consists of 10 Assembly seats: Sujanpur, Bhoa, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Dina Nagar, Qadian, Batala, Fatehgarh Churian and Dera Baba Nanak. “Ashwani Sharma has started making his team for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, but old workers are ignored,” accused a BJP functionary from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat.
According to BJP workers, local leaders from various Assembly segments are not happy with Sharma. “BJP candidate Seema Kumari from Bhoa (SC) and Dinesh Singh Babu from Sujanpur seat are not on the same track with Sharma and resentment of both leaders and workers could impact the party’s performance in the coming Lok Sabha elections,” a BJP functionary said. The BJP is on an expansion spree in Punjab after Akali Dal parted way in 2020. The party has launched various outreach programmes to connect with the public. Apart from this, the saffron party has also brought prominent faces from other parties to strengthen its position, but this has further brought factionalism to the party. The central leadership of the party is keeping a keen eye on developments. This month, Union minister Amit Shah is scheduled to launch a “Yatra” against drugs.