The inclusion of first-time MP Vijay Sampla in the Narendra Modi Ministry, leading to jubilation in the Hoshiarpur constituency in Punjab, has sent a major political signal that the BJP is eyeing the nearly 32 per cent Dalit vote as it may go it alone in Assembly election due in the State in early 2017.
After the defeat of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Amritsar in the Lok Sabha election and the decision by the Akali Dal to align with the Indian National Lok Dal in the Haryana Assembly election, the BJP has been facing pressure from within to walk out of the alliance forged in 1997. Mr. Sampla seems to provide a Dalit face for the party. Mr. Sampla, an unassuming 53-year-old leader from a humble background from Sampla village in Hoshiarpur, is a matriculate, who started his journey as a labourer. Subsequently, he went to a Gulf country, where he worked as a plumber. On return, he started a cement shop and became the Sarpanch of the village, from where his political career began. Though Mr. Sampla joined the BJP in 1998, he was never considered by the party to contest any Assembly seat. However, he had been the Chairperson of the Punjab State Forest Development Corporation and Punjab State Khadi and Village Industry Board on different occasions.
After the last delimitation, when Hoshiarpur was made a reserved seat, the BJP fielded Mr. Sampla. He defeated former Pradesh Congress president Mohinder Singh Kaypee by 13,000 votes.
