Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh
Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj’s
opposition to the entry of Haryana strongman Venod Sharma in Haryana Janhit
Congress (HJC) has thrown the party in a quandary ahead of the Lok Sabha polls
and disturbed all pre-poll equations.
“We do not know how to react to
this. We understand that senior BJP leaders who favour the entry of Sharma in
HJC are in talks with Sushma Swaraj to convince her on the need of having him
in the alliance for better polls prospects of NDA in Haryana,” a HJC leader
said. Sources in HJC said that BJP chief
Rajnath Singh had approved the proposal of Kuldeep Bishnoi on Sharma joining
the party and contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Karnal.
The entire controversy began
after Swaraj, who herself hails from Haryana, tweeted on Thursday morning. “I
am strongly opposed to this. I have conveyed my views to Shri Kuldeep Bishnoi,”
she wrote in her twitter account, quoting a report on Venod Sharma quitting
Congress and joining HJC.
There was no reason given by her
as to why was she opposed to Sharma joining HJC, an alliance partner of BJP in
Haryana. The only thing which perhaps goes against Sharma is the fact that he
is the father of Manu Sharma, undergoing life sentence in the Jessica Lall
murder case. “But then, a father cannot
be punished for the sins of his son nor can a son be punished for the sins of
his father,” a BJP leader said, refusing to be quoted.
Another BJP leader said that if
Sharma joins HJC ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the BJP-HJC combine
would be a formidable alliance and could easily taken on Congress on one hand
and the Indian National Lok Dal on the other. “Now that there are obstacles
ahead, we are waiting to formulate a fresh strategy,” he said. While the state
BJP was divided on HJC offering Karnal seat to Sharma, no one was opposed to
his joining the Bishnoi led party.
Sharma, a former Union Minister
and a Cabinet Minister in Haryana ended his over 40 year association with the
Congress and resigned from the party on Wednesday. He is expected to announce
his next political move at the Jan Chetna Mahayagya on Sunday at Kurukshetra.
Before breaking his association
from the Congress, Sharma, an industrialist and MLA from Ambala, was considered
to be the trouble shooter of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He
was instrumental in getting the support of the Independents when Congress was
reduced to 40 in
the 90 member Haryana Assembly in the 2009 Assembly polls, facilitating
Government formation. (March 7, 2014)
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