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Mohindra questions BJP’s promise to appoint Dalit CM
Punjab local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra on Thursday ridiculed the announcement by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Tarun Chugh that the party will appoint a Dalit chief minister if voted to power in the next assembly elections in the state
Punjab local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra on Thursday ridiculed the announcement by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Tarun Chugh that the party will appoint a Dalit chief minister if voted to power in the next assembly elections in the state.
In a statement, Mohindra said the same BJP leaders were not able to appoint a Hindu deputy chief minister in 2007 and 2012 when they could have done it easily. “In 2007, the SAD government was completely dependent on the BJP’s support and it had won 19 out of 21 seats it contested. Even then, it could not assert itself to get a Hindu appointed as a deputy CM and now the party has the audacity to announce a Dalit CM when it has no existence at all in the state,” he said.
Referring to the announcement, he said the party’s credibility is at its nadir as it could not watch the interests of the people it claims to represent. “These are simply survival tactics and are not going to help the party in any way,” he said.
Don’t indulge in politics of identity: Tewari to Sukhbir
A day after SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal announced he would give the Punjab deputy CM’s post to a Dalit if his party wins in 2022, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Thursday asked him whether the position of chief minister was reserved for someone.
Tewari, the MP from Anandpur Sahib constituency, also said that the SAD leader should desist from indulging in “politics of identity”.
Sukhbir on Wednesday had promised to give the post of Punjab deputy chief minister to a Dalit if his party is voted to power in the assembly polls next year.
Reacting to the statement, Tewari asked Sukhbir: “Why only deputy chief minister, why not a Dalit as chief minister? Is the top position reserved for someone permanently? “Once the Pandora’s box of identity politics is opened, then people will legitimately demand, if not ask, as why a Hindu should not be chief minister or for that matter, someone from the OBC (other backward classes) community should not then be the chief minister of the state,” he said.
