AMRITSAR: Faced by opposition from the leaders of his own party, BJP state president Shwait Malik dissolved the party’s Amritsar Urban unit on Sunday and appointed Anand Sharma as its chief.The move came amid growing resentment in the unit against Malik and on a day another mandal pradhan of Amritsar Urban, Pardeep Sareen, put in his papers over what he described as Malik’s “undemocratic” style of functioning. Sareen, after submitting his resignation, said Malik had not been listening to BJP workers. “This will cost the party dear in the 2019 general elections,” he said.Before him, state executive member Harsh Khana and three mandal pardhans —Aman Chandi, Sham Sundar and Sushil Sharma — had resigned from the posts after citing the same reasons against Malik.Sareen said he wouldn’t be surprised if resignations start pouring from other districts in the state. “Leaders in other districts are quiet for now. They are waiting for an appropriate time to make public their resentment against Malik,” he said.Sareen said a delegation of party workers from Amritsar Urban would soon submit a representation to Union minister and senior party leader Arun Jaitley , and apprise him of the ground situation in Punjab.The new Amritsar Urban president, though, refuted the claims made against Malik’s style of functioning. “This is just a conspiracy against him,” he said. Sharma went on to describe dissolution of the Amritsar Urban unit as a step for streamlining the party’s functioning.Malik did not respond to phone calls made by The Times of India. However, BJP state media in charge Maj R S Gill (retd) claimed that no one held any grudge against Malik. “If there was any discontent in the unit, it was the sole responsibility of district president to resolve the same at his own level. He should have brought it to the knowledge of state president,” he said.Gill said Sharma’s predecessor, Rajesh Honey, has now been appointed BJP’s state spokesperson.

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