File photo of former BJP MLA Vijay Jolly.
A former BJP MLA’s online event in support of Republican candidate and former US President Donald Trump was “postponed” a few days later, as the BJP distanced itself from the event and its organiser. According to reporting In The Hindu,
The event, a Zoom call scheduled for Saturday morning (Saturday evening IST), was hosted by former Delhi BJP MLA Vijay Jolly. Its title was ‘Donald Trump–‘ India and America are best friends [India and America, the best of friends] The tag line ‘Support Trump – to save America’ was given in the event notice.
The audience was to hear the keynote speech by Indian American businessman and major Trump ally and donor, Shalabh “Shali” Kumar. Mr Kumar is the president of a group called Republican Hindu Coalition.
A handful of individuals and host Mr. Jolly signed on at Saturday’s online event. The notice posted on the call said that it has been postponed due to Dussehra celebrations. However the date of Dussehra was already known when the schedule was decided.
Earlier this week, the BJP’s foreign-cell chief, Vijay Chauthaiwale, had refused to attend the event, questioning Mr Jolly’s leadership position in the party.
“It has been brought to my notice that Mr. @VijayJollyBJP, a self-proclaimed ‘senior BJP leader’ is organizing an online meeting in support of one of the two main presidential candidates of the US election. The BJP has nothing to do with the incident, Mr Chauthaiwale told X.
The event notice described Mr Jolly as the president of the ‘Delhi Study Group’ and a “senior BJP leader”.
Mr Chauthaiwale had said on Twitter, “The BJP is very clear that the US elections are an internal matter of the US and the BJP is not supporting or opposing any candidate in that country.”
The BJP has faced difficulties in relation to the campaign activities of its foreign allies abroad, such as the campaigning of the UK Conservative Party by Overseas Friends of BJP members in the 2019 UK election.
published – October 12, 2024 10:23 PM IST