Punjab BJP puts up Sikh faces in run-up to assembly elections

Strategic analyst Col Jaibans Singh (retd) is media adviser as BJP plans pan-Punjab outreach after break-up with Shiromani Akali Dal over farm laws

In the run-up to the Punjab assembly elections early next year, the state BJP unit has appointed columnist Colonel Jaibans Singh (retd) as its state media adviser and Kuldeep Singh Kahlon as its panellist for debates.

The Punjab BJP has appointed a new set of office-bearers, most of them Sikh leaders, as it battles a backlash from farmer unions over the three farm laws. Assembly elections are due in the state early next year. (HT file photo)

Apart from Col Singh and Kahlon, the Punjab unit of the BJP has appointed Harvinder Singh Kahlon of Jalandhar as the state spokesperson (TV), Dr Jaswinder Singh Dhillon of Amritsar as the state co-convener of its intellectual cell, Nirmaljit Singh of Mohali, Jagmohan Singh Saini of Patiala, Kavita Sarowal of Patiala and Jeevan Mahajan as special invitees, Sukhpal Brar of Faridkot and Baljinder Singh Dakoha of Batala as co-convenors of the panchayati raj cell.

“By appointing this new set of office-bearers, the Punjab BJP has vested a high-level responsibility on all prominent Sikh faces of the state who were taken into the party fold on June 16. This move indicates the seriousness with which the party is pursuing its policy to create a pan-Punjab signature after its break-up with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD),” said a statement issued by the BJP.

“The most prominent is the appointment of Col Jaibans Singh as media adviser for the Punjab BJP. He has vast experience in the field being a strategic analyst and commentator with expertise in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab affairs,” it added.