Punjab BJP leader Vijay Sampla quits as Scheduled Caste commission chief

BJP sources say Hoshiarpur ex-MP’s resignation comes after he met party chief JP Nadda over “important role in organisation” in view of 2024 Lok Sabha campaign in Punjab

Former Union minister and senior Punjab BJP leader Vijay Sampla on Tuesday resigned as chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).

Former Union minister and senior Punjab BJP leader Vijay Sampla, who resigned as chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), is set to play a bigger role in the party as it gears up for the 2024 general election. (HT file photo)

It is learnt that Sampla sent his resignation to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, a day after receiving directions to resign from the post from BJP national chief Jagat Prakash Nadda.

Sampla, a former Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha MP, met Nadda on Sunday and was told about his “important role in the organisation”, party sources said.

This is for the second time Sampla, 62, has stepped down as the NCSC chairman. He had quit in the run-up to the Punjab elections in February last year and contested on the BJP ticket.

Speculation is rife that Sampla may be contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Hoshiarpur.

“Sampla ji resigned as the NCSC chairman. Rajtilak ki karo tyari,” siad Sampla’s personal assistant Chaman Lal in his Facebook post.

However, another senior BJP leader from Punjab claimed thatr things are not clear why Sampla was asked to resign. “Various theories are doing rounds in the party. Let’s see what comes out,” said a senior party functionary of Punjab BJP who belongs to anti-Sampla camp.

A prominent Dalit leader of the party from Punjab, Sampla began his political career in 1998 as the sarpanch of Sofipind village in Jalandhar cantonment. He has also served in the Punjab government.

He was the chairman of the Punjab Khadi Board from 2008-12 and the chairman of the Punjab State Forest Development Corporation in 2014. He was then elected to the Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur and became a Union minister in 2015.

In 2019, Sampla was denied the ticket from Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat as the party preferred present Union minister Som Parkash to him.