'Baseless': BJP denies rumours of Punjab Chief Sunil Jakhar's resignation

The Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday confirmed that Sunil Jakhar continues to lead the party in the state, calling rumours of his resignation "totally baseless". Punjab BJP general secretary Anil Sarin confirmed that Jakhar, 70, was leading the party.

The BJP’s reaction followed hours after media reports claimed that Jakhar had reportedly resigned. The news had particularly raised eyebrows in view of the upcoming panchayat elections in the state scheduled for October 15.

Jarkhar’s personal assistant, Sanjeev Trika, has denied the rumours. He said that Jakhar has been busy and less active recently. Notably, Jakhar’s political activity has decreased in Punjab after the Lok Sabha elections in June. His last public appearance was on September 3 at a party meeting in Chandigarh.

In the crucial general elections, the saffron party did not win any of the 13 seats in Punjab but its vote share doubled to 18.56 per cent compared to 9.63 per cent in 2019. This also marked the BJP’s highest-ever vote share in Punjab. On the party's performance, Jakhar had said then: “We have done better but better is not enough…”

Jakhar had also expressed concerns over the BJP losing its traditional Lok Sabha seats of Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur. A former Congress veteran, Jakhar had quit the party to join the BJP in 2022 and was appointed state chief on July 4, 2023. He was a former Lok Sabha MP from Gurdaspur and served as Punjab Congress chief and as the Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly during 2012-2016.

He is the son of former union minister and Lok Sabha Speaker late Balram Jakhar.