The Indian Express ·
Politics
Badals to Manns, why BJP is banking on political families for Punjab boost
BJP's bid to induct several prominent faces from Punjab’s political dynasties cutting across party lines have come in the wake of its similar moves for expansion in Haryana
While former Punjab chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) stalwart late Parkash Singh Badal’s cousin, Major (retd) Bhupinder Singh Dhillon, who joined the BJP Monday, may not be an established political figure like his nephew and ex-minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who switched to the BJP from the Congress in January 2023, Bhupinder’s political salience lies in his long association with the Badal family.
Dhillon had served as Parkash Singh Badal’s political adviser for 25 years, making his induction into the BJP significant. His son Amarvir Singh Bawa also joined the BJP along with him.
The development comes four months after Gian Singh Mann, a cousin of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, joined the BJP in May. Gian Singh had earlier been an active AAP supporter who had campaigned for it during the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections swept by the party. However, he later became a vocal critic of the Mann government, especially over its now-scrapped land-pooling policy.
After Gian Singh’s induction, Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia had taken a dig at CM Mann, saying, “When even your own family members start leaving, understand that something is seriously wrong.”
The BJP has, however, managed to draw several prominent faces from Punjab’s established political families cutting across party lines in recent years. These include former Congress CM and scion of Patiala’s erstwhile ruling family, Captain Amarinder Singh, former state Congress president Sunil Jakhar, ex-Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of former Congress CM Beant Singh, and Kanwarveer Singh Tohra, grandson of ex-Akali heavyweight Gurcharan Singh Tohra.
The BJP’s Punjab inductions have come in the wake of the party’s similar moves in neighbouring Haryana.
Ahead of the 2014 Haryana Assembly elections, when the BJP was trying to emerge as an independent political force in the state after decades of playing a largely supporting role, it inducted two prominent state Congress leaders, Chaudhary Birender Singh and Rao Inderjit Singh, into its fold. Rao Inderjit Singh has been a minister in the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
However, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Birender Singh left the BJP to return to the Congress. His son, IAS officer-turned-BJP MP Brijendra Singh, had left the BJP a month earlier to join the Congress.
The BJP has got several members from Haryana’s influential political families on board over the years. Ranjit Singh Chautala, brother of former CM Om Prakash Chautala, served as a minister in the BJP-led Haryana government from 2019 to 2024. He later contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Hisar on a BJP ticket but lost. After being denied the BJP ticket from Rania for the October 2024 Assembly elections, Ranjit contested the seat, unsuccessfully, as an Independent and was subsequently expelled from the party.
The BJP also inducted some other dynasts, such as Kiran Choudhry and her daughter Shruti Choudhry from the Bansi Lal family and Kuldeep Bishnoi and his son Bhavya Bishnoi from the Bhajan Lal family.
The BJP has traditionally played a secondary role in Punjab politics, relying earlier on its erstwhile alliance with the SAD. Since the break-up of their coalition in 2020, the party has been attempting to build its own independent organisational and electoral base, looking to take centre stage ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
Observers say that by inducting members of prominent political families from the Congress, SAD and other parties, the BJP seems to be making “pragmatic” calculations, looking to benefit from “their political networks, local contacts, familiarity with the state’s political machinery and access to constituencies built over decades”.
“By bringing in leaders from different political backgrounds, the BJP is effectively absorbing people who already understand Punjab’s political landscape rather than building an entirely new leadership structure from scratch. The result is also a Punjab BJP that increasingly looks different from the party’s traditional leadership,” said an observer.
Punjab BJP media in-charge Vineet Joshi rejected the suggestion that the party was attempting to replicate its Haryana strategy in Punjab. “It’s simply that people want to join the BJP. Now, we have such a large number of leaders who wish to join the party and we have to choose whom we should induct and whom we should ignore,” he said.
SAD spokesperson Parambans Singh Romana, an aide of party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, sought to distance the party from Bhupinder Singh Dhillon’s switch, saying “Dhillon was not a part of SAD. We do not have anything to say.”
The AAP called the BJP’s latest recruits “leaders who had already lost political relevance”. AAP national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda likened the BJP’s strategy to “bricks from here, rubble from there to build its house”.
“There is no existence of the BJP in Punjab and now they are searching for relevance here. This shows the BJP’s desperation to come to power in the state. They have inducted leaders already rejected by the public,” Dhanda said.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has also claimed that the BJP has “no base and cadre” in the state.
Significantly, Dhillon’s induction comes at a time when the BJP camp is also said to be engaged in informal talks with the SAD to forge their possible alliance for the upcoming elections.
