After speaking with SAD leadership, Vijay Sampla made a call to Delhi

Disappointed that he did not get a BJP ticket for the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat, former BJP state president and former Union minister of state Vijay Sampla met with the Akali leadership today afternoon. Following their meeting, he was allegedly invited to Delhi for discussions by the BJP party high command.

Sampla met with JP Nadda, the national head of the BJP, until late this evening. The encounter casts doubt on his decision to probably join the Akali Dal, as the saffron party may put pressure on him to spare its prestigious Hoshiarpur seat during the election season. The BJP has held the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat for the last two terms.

The wife of current BJP MP Som Parkash, Anita Som Parkash, has been declared as the party’s candidate on the list released yesterday. Following the announcement, there were rumors that Sampla was in discussions with other parties because he deleted “Modi ka parivar” from his “X” account and sent three tweets in a row. In Hoshiarpur, neither the Congress nor the SAD have yet to declare their candidates.

Sampla met with SAD president Sukhbir Badal today in Chandigarh, and it is said that they were almost done with the arrangement when he received a call from high command telling him to visit Nadda in Delhi right now.

Prior to being stripped of the position a few months ago after a meeting with Nadda, Sampla had also held the position of chairperson of the National Commission of SCs. Afterwards, he had said that Nadda had informed him that he was free of the accusation, allowing him to return to Punjab and resume his involvement in electoral politics.

The lone candidate from Hoshiarpur for Akali Dal is the former minister Sohan S Thandal. Sampla is said to be very interested in being inducted since he is a Hindu and may assist the party win a significant number of votes from the city’s urban constituency.

He is said to have connections in the BJP stronghold areas of Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, Dasuya, and Mukerian since he was still an MP for the party here in 2014.

According to family sources, Sampla contacted the party leadership yesterday via former chief minister and Jalandhar candidate Charanjit S. Channi, since the Congress is also seeking a candidate from Hoshiarpur.

Potential opportunity from Anandpur Sahib

Late on Wednesday night, there was also talk coming from the Sampla camp that their candidate, Vijay Sampla, may be moved to Anandpur Sahib. The Anandpur Sahib seat is already contested by a number of BJP candidates, including Subhash Sharma and Avinash Rai Khanna. However, the latter was only tasked with managing the Tripura polls.