Manchanda is new Haryana BJP chief

Kurukshetra, Nov 19 (UNI) Mr Atam Prakash Manchanda, an advocate by profession, has been unanimously elected president of the Haryana unit of the BJP.

The election to this post was held here today in the presence of a large number of BJP leaders and workers.

The outgoing president Prof Ganeshi Lal made the announcement of Mr Manchanda's election in a press conference.

Mr Manchanda was the only candidate to file his nominations. The 'selection' of Mr Manchanda to the top state post had been approved by the BJP high command.

Addressing a press conference after his election, Mr Manchanda said he would work in cohesion with the party cadre to strengthen its grassroots in the villages.

Hailing from a village near Ismailabad town in Kurukshetra district, he practised law in the district courts here before shifting to the Punjab nad Haryana High Court, Chandigarh. Mr Manchanda has his roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

The new BJP president has never been elected even to a municipality. He had lost all the elections to the assembly and parliament that he had contested in the past.

In the last assembly polls he lost from Shahabad constituency, while prior to that he had lost from the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency in the last Lok Sabha polls.

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