Chandigarh: Four of the six Rajya Sabha members from Punjab who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were absent when Kewal Singh Dhillon formally assumed charge as the party's Punjab president during a function at the state BJP headquarters here on Wednesday.
Absentee MPs
Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta and Sandeep Pathak did not attend the event, while Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Ashok Mittal were present. According to sources in the saffron party, invitations had been extended to all six MPs. However, only Sahney and Mittal attended the function, while the others were unable to do so due to prior commitments.
Dhillon Takes Charge
Dhillon took charge in the presence of senior BJP leaders and party workers. Among those present were former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, former minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi and former MP Fateh Jung Bajwa, all of whom had joined the BJP from other parties.
Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, BJP national vice-president Saudan Singh and former Punjab BJP presidents Ashwani Sharma and Vijay Sampla also attended the event.
