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Punjab ex-Congress leaders Capt Amarinder Singh, Sunil Jakhar made BJP national executive members
Punjab leaders Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Manoranjan Kalia and Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia have been made special invitees to the national executive
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday appointed former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and former state Congress president Sunil Jakhar and its former Uttar Pradesh president Swatantra Dev Singh as members of its national executive.
Also read: Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh joins BJP, merges his newly launched party
It also appointed former Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill its national spokesperson, the party said in a statement.
Madan Kaushik, Vishnu Deo Sai, its former presidents of Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh, respectively, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Manoranjan Kalia and Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, all three from Punjab, have been made special invitees to the national executive, it added.
Capt Amarinder Singh, 80, had floated the Punjab Lok Congress last year after quitting Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister over his differences with the top party leaders but the PLC failed to win any seat in the assembly elections earlier this year. He himself lost from his home turf of Patiala Urban. The PLC had fought the elections in alliance with the BJP.
After a spine surgery in London, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah besides BJP president JP Nadda sparking off speculation of his joining the saffron party. He discussed issues related to national security, rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the roadmap for the state’s development.
Sunil Jakhar, 68, joined the BJP in May after five decades in the Congress, which three generations of his family served. The former Lok Sabha MP left the party over issues such as ‘nationalism’, ‘brotherhood’ and ‘unity’ in Punjab.
He left the position of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president in July last year to make way for Navjot Singh Sidhu, who led the party to a dismal performance in the assembly elections in February.
