AMRITSAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s clique of dissidents in Punjab is gradually building up ahead of the 2022 assembly elections to find a ‘safe passage’ to secure their own political future even by censuring the party’s high command’s decisions on farmers’ issues.
Days after former BJP minister Anil Joshi’s raised ifs and buts on his own party’s stand on farmers issue, another senior BJP leader Master Mohan Lal not only threw his weight behind Joshi but also shielded him for allegedly criticizing the central leadership on the handling of farmers’ protest over three agri laws.
BJP sources informed that they were expecting a ‘few’ more leaders to join the dissident’s bandwagon in near future.
”Both Joshi and Lal had earlier been raising the issue of severing the ties with the BJP but when it happened they chose to criticize the party and used farmers agitation as an alibi,” alleged sources while questioning that why didn’t they raise the issue of farmers earlier or gave any substantial plan, if they had, to end farmers agitation.
“Dissidents want the BJP to expel them from the party to be ‘martyrs’ in the eyes of farmers,” alleged sources.
BJP general secretary and in charge, Majha Zone, Jeevan Gupta told TOI that they had brought the issues raised both by Joshi and Lal to the knowledge of the party’s high command but at the same time he rued that they should have taken up the issue at a proper platform.
“We have a democratic setup where every leader or worker has the freedom to speak but they should raise the issue at a proper platform,” he said.
Gupta said if both the senior BJP leaders had any roadmap or formula to resolve the farmer’s agitation then they should have brought the same to the knowledge of the party’s leadership but they didn’t do so.
Last year, two former close confidants of Joshi, including BJP leader R P Maini, had left the party to join SAD(B).
“Party leadership believed that Maini joined SAD(B) with the silent consent of Joshi,” sources said, adding, giving an ultimatum to one’s own party’s leadership was a clear sign of ‘mutiny’.
In the recent past, Joshi had given an ultimatum to the party to clear its stand on farmers’ issues within 15 days.