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Chandigarh: After 4 decades, Subhash Chawla shifts loyalties, dumps Congress for BJP
Former Chandigarh president and two-time mayor Subhash Chawla cited his dissatisfaction with the Congress-AAP coalition in Chandigarh as the reason behind leaving the Congress
After serving Congress for nearly four decades, party’s former Chandigarh president and two-time mayor Subhash Chawla defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.
While BJP’s Chandigarh candidate Sanjay Tandon termed Chawla “the strongest pillar of the Chandigarh Congress” who will further strengthen the BJP, the Congress dubbed his defection inconsequential.
BJP national vice-president Saroj Pandey welcomed Chawla in the saffron fold at party’s office Kamlam in Sector 33 in the presence of local unit chief Jatinder Pal Malhotra.
“I have known Chawla for 25 years, and interacted with him at both political and personal levels. He will find an important place in the heart of the world’s largest political party,” said Tandon.
Chawla cited his dissatisfaction with the Congress-AAP coalition in Chandigarh as the reason behind leaving the party.
“Leaving the party, which I joined at the age of 21, was a difficult decision for me. However, I can’t ignore the damage AAP’s presence has inflicted on the Congress in the recent MC elections. AAP indulges in petty politics and Congress’s decision to join hands with it for the Lok Sabha elections will destroy its presence in Chandigarh in the near future,” remarked Chawla.
Will not effect the party at all : Congress
Former Congress mayor Ravinder Pal Singh said, “Chawla’s departure will not affect the party at all. Looking at his track record, he remained a non-entity.”
“Congress leader Devinder Babla joined the BJP in 2022 due to his annoyance with Chawla. But the latter has now joined him. Chawla was removed from the local unit’s presidency in August 2022 due to allegations of inaction and incapability to make the right decisions at the right time during his tenure. His switch to an ‘anti-people and anti-farmer’ party like the BJP is not going to make any difference to the continuous pursuits of the Congress party in the service of the people of the city,” he said.
Chandigarh Congress spokesperson Rajiv Sharma said “misguided activists”, who changed their ideology under threat or allurements from communal forces, had no place in the grand old party, which played a vital role in the country’s freedom struggle and later in strengthening the country’s unity and integrity, despite threats posed by divisive and regressive forces.
Four-decade journey with Congress ends
Subash Chawla had joined the Congress at the young age of 21, eventually getting elected as the president of the Sector 25 colony unit. He became president of the Chandigarh Youth Congress in 1974.
Chawla’s loyalty to Congress and proximity to four-time MP Pawan Kumar Bansal helped him secure the mayor’s post twice, in 2003 and 2013.
He first contested the MC election in 1996 from Ward Number 4 when the civic body was formed, but lost. He re-contested from the same ward in 2001 and won, rising to the mayor’s chair in 2003.
He contested from the same ward in 2006 as well, but couldn’t retain the seat. In the 2011 elections, he switched to Ward Number 5, after Ward Number 4 was declared reserved, and won, returning to the mayor’s post again in 2013.
Chawla was elevated to the post of Chandigarh Congress president in February 2021. But found himself in the party’s firing line after its drubbing in the December 2021 MC elections. Losing majorly to new entrant AAP, the Congress couldn’t even secure the second place.
Out of the 35 seats, the Congress could win only eight, while AAP clinched 14, BJP 12 and one went to the SAD, forcing Chawla to tender his resignation in August 2022.
