Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 9: Realizing that annoying senior leaders would prove disastrous for the party in the ongoing Assembly elections, the BJP has strategically placed several of its senior leaders into key organizational roles after they were passed over for tickets.
Prominent leaders such as Sat Sharma, Kavinder Gupta, and Nirmal Singh have been entrusted with important responsibilities in preparation for the elections.
Sat Sharma, who was not given a ticket for the forthcoming elections without any reason, has been appointed as the working president of the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit. This role positions him to gradually take over from Ravinder Raina, the former BJP J&K president, who is now a candidate in the upcoming elections. A former MLA and a past president of the party's J&K unit, Sharma brings considerable experience to the position.
Additionally, the BJP has named Nirmal Singh,
a former deputy chief minister, as the head of the campaign committee for the elections. Previously, Singh had been entrusted with leading the party’s manifesto committee in the Union Territory. Similarly, Kavinder Gupta, another former deputy chief minister, has been appointed to lead the election management committee.
Earlier this month, the BJP faced internal challenges after releasing and subsequently withdrawing its first list of candidates for the J&K polls due to technical issues. The move sparked protests at the party’s office in Jammu, as several senior leaders, including Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta, were excluded from the list.
In response, the party leadership, led by Ram Madhav, BJP’s election in-charge for J&K, held individual meetings with these leaders to address their concerns and calm the unrest. Despite being passed over, Nirmal Singh’s assembly seat in Bilawar was assigned to Satish Sharma, while Vikram Randhawa was chosen to contest from Bahu in place of Kavinder Gupta. In the Jammu West constituency, Sat Sharma was replaced by Aravind Gupta.
Jammu and Kashmir is gearing up for its first assembly elections in nearly a decade. The elections will be held in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1, with vote counting set for October 8. |
