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Himachal BJP expels 20 more office-bearers in poll-bound Jubbal Kotkhai
The office-bearers from the block and district units of the BJP have been expelled for six years for anti-party activities
Barely four days before the by-elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday expelled 20 more office-bearers of its Jubbal-Kotkhai unit, where rebel candidate Chetan Bragta is posing a challenge to party nominee Neelam Saraik. The office-bearers from the block and district units of the BJP have been expelled for anti-party activities.
Those expelled are Mahavir Jhagta, Inder Chauhan, Surinder Dhaulta, Krishan Chand Manta, Virender Chauhan, Narendra Chauhan, Ashok Chauhan, Nikkam Singh Baltu, Balbir Thakur Prince, Shyam Sharma and Mohinder Jhagta.
District unit chief Ajay Shyam said the 20 office-bearers have been expelled from the party for six years.
BJP’s Kisan Morcha president Rakesh Sharma (Babli ) has expelled five office-bearers of the farmers’ wing from the party for six years in Jubbal Kotkhai. The expelled leaders include Kitab Singh Negi, district president; Rajendra Chauhan, district secretary; Mahavir Jhagta, and Manoj Sunta, block president.
The convener of the party’s Scheduled Caste cell has expelled Nitin Kumar, Satish Hemta, Moti Lal Shakti Singh, Ravindra Rawal, and Anant Lal Kesta.
So far, the BJP has expelled 50 workers from block units of its youth body, BJYM, and women’s wing Mahila Morcha.
No scope for returning: State BJP chief
The block unit of the party resigned soon after the BJP denied the ticket to Chetan Bragta and preferred Neelam Saraik over him. The party expelled seven office-bearers of the Mahila Morcha on October 23.
“All those who have been expelled will not be taken back in the party fold,” state party chief Suresh Kashyap said in a statement here on Tuesday.
“The BJP is a disciplined party and the workers are the backbone of the party. But anti-party activities will not be tolerated at any cost in the party,” he said, adding that the party’s Himachal affairs in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna and co-in charge Sanjay Tandon have time and again warned the dissidents.
Virbhadra was the Messiah of development, says Pratibha
Congress nominee from Mandi Pratibha Singh on Tuesday hit out at the government over Lok Sabha member Ramswaroop Sharma’s death. She said that government is shying away from probing his death.
“Bypolls are taking place because Sharma is no more between us. People of the state have every right to know,” she said.
She also flayed HP chief minister and other BJP leaders for their remarks against her. “BJP leaders’ remarks over a woman only reflect their frustration,” she said while addressing a series of poll meetings. Neither am I weak nor helpless,” she added. Pratibha said her husband Virbhadra Singh was the “Messiah of development”. She said with his death, the state lost one of its leaders of masses.
