Chandigarh, July 8 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday appointed senior leader and two-time Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma, 56, as the working president of the party's Punjab unit.

BJP national president JP Nadda made the appointment on Monday.

A senior party leader, privy to the development, said Sharma is slated to replace Sunil Jakhar, who has already resigned as chief and had not been attending the party meetings or official programmes for the past several months.

In Jakhar's absence, state affairs in-charge and former Gujrat chief minister Vijay Rupani was calling the shots in the party matters, but his untimely demise in the Ahmedabad air crash left a leadership vacuum in the state unit.

"Since, Nadda is an outgoing nati...