Controversy Unfolds as BJP Replaces Sikh Leader in Pehowa

BJP leader Kamaljeet Singh Ajrana claims he was forcibly replaced as the party candidate for the Pehowa seat in the October 5 assembly polls. He alleges false accusations of associating with the Pakistan Army triggered the move. The Sikh community has shown significant resentment and protests have erupted.

BJP leader Kamaljeet Singh Ajrana on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that he voluntarily surrendered the party ticket from the Pehowa assembly seat for the October 5 assembly polls.

He claimed that he was forced to surrender the ticket.

Ajrana, a Sikh face, was named as the party candidate from the Pehowa seat by the BJP in its first list of candidates released on September 4.

The party on Tuesday replaced him with Jai Bhagwan Sharma. The BJP has now given a ticket to Jai Bhagwan Sharma from Pehowa in Kurukshetra.

Haryana BJP President Mohan Lal Badoli had on Tuesday said that Ajrana surrendered his nomination ticket voluntarily.

However, Ajrana claimed on Wednesday that he was forced to surrender his ticket. ''Nobody is that foolish to surrender an election ticket allotted to him by a national party,'' he said.

He claimed some BJP leaders in Pehowa raised a ''false'' issue, alleging his association with the Pakistan Army.

He said he had led a 3,000-strong Sikh delegation to Kartarpur in Pakistan in December 202, on the occasion of Parkash Utsav of Guru Nanak Dev.

''As per protocol, the delegation was welcomed by senior government officials and leaders and dinner was organised.

''When the Pakistan official came to know that December 5 was my birthday, they arranged a cake. Some miscreants are using this picture to defame me,'' he said.

There is great resentment among the Sikh community not only in Pehowa and Kurukshetra but throughout Haryana against this treatment of a Sikh leader, he said.

A large number of Sikhs held a protest meeting at the Chhenwi Patshahi Gurdwara here and later took out a procession up to the Chowk near the old Bus stand.

The protesting Sikh leaders including Giani Variyam Singh said that the BJP had ''maltreated'' a Sikh leader, and they would teach the party a lesson in the assembly elections.

Ajrana is a nominated member of the ad-hoc committee recently constituted by the state government to run the affairs of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee.

His wife Ravinder Kaur is the junior vice president of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. He had joined the BJP in July.

(With inputs from agencies.)