Chandigarh, May 15: Two-time Mayor and former Chandigarh Congress president Subhash Chawla today joined the BJP, saying that by joining hands with the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress has done its own harm.
Subhash, who is considered close to former Union Minister Pawan Bansal and former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat, was a day earlier included in the list of star campaigners in the Chandigarh Lok Sabha elections.
On Wednesday, Subhash Chawla reached BJP office Kamalam and joined BJP along with son Sumit Chawla and his supporters in the presence of BJP National Vice President and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Saroj Pandey, Chandigarh President Jatinder Pal Malhotra and BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon.
These leaders welcomed Subhash Chawla and said the BJP will give full respect to him and his colleagues in the party.
Dr Saroj Pandey said the people of the country have faith in the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Subhash Chawla has also joined the BJP by getting impressed by the works of PM Modi.
President Malhotra said that today every true patriot wishes to work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The decision that Subhash Chawla has taken to join BJP is commendable.
BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon, Chawla had held many posts while in the Congress, but when he was joining the BJP, Chawla said he only wants to serve the country in the same way as Modi is serving the country and aspires for no post.
He said Chawla will also be proud today that he has joined the world’s largest political party with 17 crore workers and this will give more strength to the Chandigarh BJP.
During the press conference on leaving the Congress and joining the BJP, Subhash Chawla jocked the truth is that many leaders like former Mayor Poonam Sharma and Devinder Singh Babla had left the Congress and joined the BJP before him and he could not feel like doing without them.
He said that being influenced by BJP policies, he along with his colleagues were looking for an excuse to the join BJP and leave Congress, because in the last two-three years, Congress had taken some wrong decisions, which was hurting him for years.
That is why he was leaving the Congress. He said the Aam Aadmi Party caused this condition of the Congress.
Chawla said shaking hands with Kejriwal was beyond my tolerance. Every political party has policy rules. This decision will prove to be devastating for the Chandigarh Congress in the times to come, he further said.
Chawla said the Congress is spending the money on arrangements and leadership is instead being prepared for Aam Aadmi Party.
He said the Congress lagged behind in giving the desired candidate in Chandigarh. He is deeply impressed by the service work of BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon, because the service he rendered to the public during Covid is unmatched. His sense of service towards widowed women is also commendable.
He said the BJP has given the candidate in the form of Tandon as per the wish of the people of Chandigarh. He also congratulated Tandon in the same spirit as soon as he got the ticket.
He said, “I started working with the Block Congress Committee and became the state president and now I have joined the BJP with the desire to work as a small worker in the same way. He clarified that he has left the old leadership not with the intention of contesting elections, but to work with a spirit of service, if he gets the job of laying carpets, I will do that too.”
Chawla shared he already has many friends in the BJP like councillor Saurabh Joshi. He also narrated a memoir of 2013 on this occasion. He told that in 2013, when he was the mayor, he had the opportunity to attend a program organized by Modi ji, but he was impressed by Modi’s memory power at that time, when he spoke by his name properly.
He had the privilege of meeting him twice when he was in Chandigarh as BJP incharge and even after so many years, he remembered his name and the names of Desraj Gupta and Saurabh Joshi.
He added that the result of the BJP candidate in Chandigarh has been decided, Sanjay Tandon is in a strong position in Chandigarh and his result is written on the walls.
On this occasion, State Vice President Poonam Sharma, Devinder Singh Babla, Jagtar Singh Jagga, General Secretaries Hukam Chand and Amit Jindal, former Mayor Sarabjit Kaur, former Senior Deputy Mayor Kanwarjit Singh Rana, Harpreet Kaur and other officials were present.
