Punjab elections: Shekhawat is BJP affairs in-charge amid farm backlash

Hardeep Puri, Meenakshi Lekhi and Vinod Chawra named co-incharges as party braces to contest 117 assembly seats despite farmers’ agitation

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday appointed Union cabinet minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as the party affairs in-charge for Punjab in the run-up to the assembly elections early next year.

Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been appointed the BJP’s Punjab affairs in-charge as the party gears up for the 2022 assembly elections early next year. (HT file photo)

Besides Shekhawat, who is the Jal Shakti minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, BJP chief JP Nadda issued the appointment orders of Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Meenakshi Lekhi and Lok Sabha MP Vinod Chawra as co-incharges for the Punjab elections.

In the BJP rank and file, these appointments are being seen as a reflection of the seriousness of the party in contesting the Punjab assembly elections in 2022.

The stakes are high for the saffron party this time in Punjab as the party will contest all 117 assembly seats amid an unprecedented backlash for its leaders in the state due to the farmer protests against the three farm laws.

Earlier, the BJP used to contest the Punjab elections in 23 constituencies in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The SAD snapped ties with the BJP last year over the farm laws.