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 national BJP chief. As per the party constitution, the outgoing president can only appoint a working present. Sharma's formal orders as president would be issued by new national chief after completion of the internal election process," a senior party functionary, familiar with the development, said. The party leadership has decided to opt for Sharma, a seasoned organisation leader with roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who has headed its state unit in the past as well, to replace Jakhar, another senior party leader added. For Sharma, this will be his fourth term as state BJP president. He was first appointed as party president in 2006 and for the second time in 2019. He also remained party chief for a short period of six months in 2022 before Jakhar replaced him in July 2023. Two-time Pathankot MLA, Sharma is known as a firebrand party leader who has risen through the ranks starting as a booth-level worker. Sources within the BJP state unit said Sharma was the best bet among the senior leadership of the party to be appointed as state party chief with barely two years left for the 2027 Punjab assembly polls. Sharma's reappointment signals a return to homegrown leadership within the state BJP unit. This is the second back-to-back step in this direction, as during the Ludhiana West bypoll as well BJP preferred to give the ticket to grassroots and homegrown leader Jiwan Gupta. Sharma is also considered close to present BJP chief JP Nadda ever since the latter worked as Punjab affairs incharge....