Punjab: BJP’s last-ditch efforts to placate Sampla fail
Bharatiya Janata Party’s last-ditch efforts to placate former Union minister Vijay Sampla failed on Thursday
Chandigarh : Bharatiya Janata Party’s last-ditch efforts to placate former Union minister Vijay Sampla failed on Thursday.
Sampla, who is upset over denial of BJP ticket from Hoshiarpur, was invited to meet party’s national president JP Nadda in the national capital.
According to people close to Sampla, all efforts to pacify him remained futile.
Two close aides of Sampla --- Harjit Grewal and Vineet Joshi --- were also present at the meeting.
Soon after the BJP announced sitting member of Parliament Som Parkash’s wife as its candidate from the reserved constituency on Tuesday, Sampla had dropped the hint by adding a post on his X account, that he was open to consider other options. “Ek raasta bandh hota hai to bhagwan aur kai raaste khol deta hai (If one door closes, God opens many others),” he had posted on X and also removed “Modi ka parivaar” tag from his social media profile.
Sampla, who headed the National Commission for Scheduled Castes from 2021 to 2023 and remained a minister of state for social justice and empowerment from 2014 to 2019, claims to have a huge following in Hoshiarpur, an SC reserved constituency, which he represented from 2014 to 2019.
People close to Sampla said he is likely to join the Shiromani Akali Dal.
Repeated calls to Sampla failed to elicit any response. It is learnt that Sampla has called a meeting of his supporters in Hoshiarpur on Friday to decide the next course of action.