Vijay Sampla quits as NCSC chief
The Hindu
National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairperson Vijay Sampla has tendered his resignation from the Constitutional body, The Hindu has learnt. Sources in the BJP’s Punjab unit say that his resignation comes against the backdrop of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, when he may contest from the Hoshiarpur constituency once again.
National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairperson Vijay Sampla has tendered his resignation from the Constitutional body, The Hindu has learnt. Sources in the BJP’s Punjab unit say that his resignation comes against the backdrop of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, when he may contest from the Hoshiarpur constituency once again.
Mr. Sampla, who had won the Hoshiarpur constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, was a Union Minister of State in the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry in the first Narendra Modi-led government. A prominent Dalit face of the BJP in Punjab, he was appointed to head the NCSC in 2021, but quit ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls to contest from the Phagwara constituency. After he lost, he was re-appointed as the NCSC chief.
Sources close to Mr. Sampla told The Hindu that he had tendered his resignation this time for “personal reasons”, and that the Commission would be intimated as to further procedures only once the President, as mandated by the Constitution, accepts the resignation.
The NCSC’s vice-chairperson Arun Halder, another long-time BJP member, has also previously contested Assembly elections as a party candidate in West Bengal. Apart from Mr. Halder, the Commission has only one member Anju Bala, with one more membership position currently vacant.
In the last year, under Mr. Sampla’s leadership, the NCSC has taken notably strong positions against the governments of Punjab, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, raising the issue of “increasing” atrocities against the SC community in these States.
The Commission, under Mr. Sampla, has also aggressively pushed for reviews of quotas and rosters at Public Sector Undertakings and public sector banks.
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