Raghav Chadha, Harbhajan Singh named in BJP's Punjab poll manifesto panel

Resumen detallado

Months after switching from AAP to the BJP, Raghav Chadha and Harbhajan Singh will help draft their new party’s manifesto for Punjab. A separate panel will set out the BJP’s charges against the AAP government as seat-sharing talks with former ally Shiromani Akali Dal continue.

Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha and Harbhajan Singh, who switched from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in April, have been named to the BJP’s manifesto committee for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.

Three other Rajya Sabha MPs who switched from AAP to the BJP, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, will serve on the party’s chargesheet committee.

Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon named former Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna to head the manifesto committee and former MP Sunil Jakhar to lead the chargesheet panel, which will set out the party’s allegations against the AAP government. Both Khanna and Jakhar have served as Punjab BJP presidents.

Dhillon, who took over as state unit chief in June, said more committees would be announced in the coming days.

The 13-member manifesto panel also includes Manpreet Singh Badal, Ashwani Sharma, Manoranjan Kalia, Som Parkash, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Ashwani Sekhri, Satnam Singh Sandhu, Rajinder Gupta, Parampal Kaur and advocate HS Phoolka.

The other members of the 14-member chargesheet panel are Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Vijay Sampla, Shwait Malik, Preneet Kaur, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Dinesh Babbu, Sushil Rinku, Geja Ram, SS Channy and Jagmeet Singh Brar.

The appointments come as the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) negotiate a seat-sharing arrangement for the Punjab polls, PTI reported on Saturday. Sources in both parties told PTI they expected a formal announcement later this month once the seat-sharing arrangement was finalised.

Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil, the BJP’s Punjab election in-charge, is expected to meet state party leaders in Chandigarh on November 17. Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi a few days ago and discussed issues facing the state, including drug abuse, sources told PTI.

The SAD ended its 24-year alliance with the BJP in September 2020 over the three farm laws, which were later repealed.

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