Lok Sabha Elections 2019: ‘BJP committed cow slaughter’, says Union minister Vijay Sampla after being denied ticket

Even as the party cited “independent surveys” in which heavy anti-incumbency was found against Union minister and Hoshiarpur MP Vijay Sampla, the move has surprised many as he did not court any major controversy —as an MP or minister.

The BJP high command’s denial of ticket to Union minister Vijay Sampla from the Hoshiarpur constituency has come as a huge embarrassment to the sitting MP with the names of only a few ministers in Narendra Modi cabinet having been dropped from the list of candidates.

Even as the party cited “independent surveys” in which heavy anti-incumbency was found against Sampla, the move has surprised many as he did not court any major controversy —as an MP or minister.

Reacting sharply to the denial of ticket to him, Sampla on Tuesday took to Twitter saying the BJP has committed “cow slaughter”. “Bahut dukh hua, BJP ne gau hatya kar di (It is very painful, BJP has committed cow slaughter),” he wrote. In another tweet, he cited his “clean credentials” and asked the BJP as what was his fault and why he was denied re-nomination. “Mera dosh kya hai (What is my fault?)” , adding “there is no corruption charge against me. No one can raise a finger at my conduct.”

 

He also highlighted the development works he undertook during his tenure as an MP. “I got an airport in the region, got many new trains started, got roads built,” tweeted Sampla.

“If this is the fault, I will tell my coming generations that they must not commit these mistakes,” he said.

Sampla, 57, who comes from a humble background having worked as a plumber in the Gulf till 2000, became the sarpanch of Sofi village on the outskirts of Jalandhar before he joined BJP. He had a meteoric rise in politics after becoming MP in 2014.

Despite being a first-time MP, the party high command made him Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment besides projecting him as a future Dalit leader from Punjab keeping in mind a significant concentration of the community in the state.

Then, just before the 2017 assembly polls, he was appointed him as Punjab BJP chief, a rarity for a party minister being given the responsibility.

But his tenure as the state party president was unremarkable. Not only the BJP failed miserably in the assembly polls where it won only three seats of a total of 23 segments it contests from but as a state BJP chief, he also failed to bring the factions in the party together and instead aligning with one.

Even Sampla’s one-time mentor and BJP’s in-charge for Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir and former Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna, who was instrumental in getting ticket for him in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, did not support his candidature, it is learnt.