Journalism of Courage
BJP leader Satya Pal Jain, who was considered front-runner for the post of Haryana Advocate General, has suffered another blow. He has been bypassed in favour of little-known Baldev Raj Mahajan.
Earlier, his claim to the party ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election from Chandigarh was overlooked in preference to Kirron Kher, who had only a remote link with the city. Then there was talk that he might be sent to the Rajya Sabha, but that too did not happen.
For the past several days, Jain’s name had been doing the rounds for the post of AG. Jain has been national chairman of the legal and legislative committee of the party and is contesting several high-profile cases for the party, including an election petition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Allahabad.
Party sources say he had been ignored because of his less than cordial relations with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar since the days the latter was organising secretary of Chandigarh unit of BJP from 2007 to 2010.
Khattar had brought about a change in the leadership in the Chandigarh unit, sidelining Jain’s group, which was then dominant, and bringing in Sanjay Tandon, now city BJP president, as the general secretary.
Jain has won the Lok Sabha election twice from the city in 1996 and 1998. He was denied a ticket in 1999, though he contested the elections in 2004 and 2009 when he lost. Jain was a contender for the ticket in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year. However, due to the internal strife in the party unit with three candidates staking claim, the party chose to field Kirron Kher who won the election.
Since then there had been speculation that Jain would be suitably accommodated by the party due to his vast experience, especially in legal affairs, and might be nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Jain, however, says, “I have never asked the party for anything. The party leaders have always reposed faith in me and I am contesting several high-profile cases. I have met Khattar several times after he became the CM.’’
When Modi was in charge of the Chandigarh unit, there was internal strife in the party. Gian Chand Gupta, who is now the Panchkula MLA, faced hard time as mayor of Chandigarh. Gupta’s selection had reportedly been made by Modi. Jain was then the city MP and there was a tussle for one-upmanship. His supporters had then allegedly distributed pamphlets against Modi.
Jain claims these are rumours spread by his detractors. “I am not in the party for a post. I have been associated with the party due to its ideology. Those who talk about my tiffs with other leaders are against the BJP as well as me. I am regularly in touch with Modi. I worked during the election even when there were others who opposed Kirron Kher’s candidature,” he says.
