Internal rumblings force BJP to amend J&K nominees’ list at last moment
Even though the party leadership including its J&K unit chief Ravinder Raina sought to downplay the issue by asserting “we believe in nation first, party second and the self last”, a group of party workers held a protest at its headquarters in Jammu alleging that “parachute candidates” were picked and preferred over hardworking workers
SRINAGAR: Internal rumblings within the BJP were out in the open on Monday when the party withdrew its first list of 44 candidates for Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections within hours of publication.
It later put out a revised list, mentioning the names of only 16 nominees for the first phase of the polls to be held on September 18. The BJP sources here confirmed that there was disgruntlement among a section of party cadre over a few names in the original list whereas a few of the ten former MLAs who were dropped had voiced their displeasure and conveyed the same to the party’s national leadership including Home Minister Amit Shah.
Even though the party leadership including its J&K unit chief Ravinder Raina sought to downplay the issue by asserting “we believe in nation first, party second and the self last”, a group of party workers held a protest at its headquarters in Jammu alleging that “parachute candidates” were picked and preferred over hardworking workers.
The BJP's Central Election Committee had met under the leadership of party chief J.P. Nadda in New Delhi on Sunday to finalise the candidates’ list. Prime Minister Mr. Modi and Home Minister Mr. Shah also attended the meeting.
The initial list covered 36 segments in the Jammu region and eight in the Kashmir Valley. It included the names of several former ministers and legislators including S.S. Salathia, Shakti Raj Parihar, Sunil Sharma, Davender Singh Rana (younger brother of Union minister Jitendra Singh), Syed Mushtaq Bukhari, Shakti Raj Parihar, Sham Lal Sharma, Chandar Prakash Ganga and Balwant Singh Mankotia besides Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi, Veer Saraf, Yudhvir Sethi, Shagun Parihar and Murtaza Khan and a few other key political faces who joined the BJP in the last five years.
However, among the ten former MLAs dropped was Nirmal Singh who served as deputy chief minister in the PDP-BJP government and former BJP J&K unit chief Sat Paul Sharma.
As per the revised list, the BJP has fielded former ministers Sunil Sharma (Padder-Nagseni constituency), Shakti Raj Parihar (Doda-West), former MLA Daleep Singh Parihar (Bhaderwah), Shagun Parihar (Kishtwar), Tariq Keen (Inderwal), Gajay Singh Rana (Doda), Rakesh Thakur (Ramban), Salim Bhat (Banihal), Sofi Yousuf (Srigufwara-Bijbehara), Syed Showkat Gayoor Andrabi (Pampore), Arshid Bhat (Rajpora), Javed Ahmad Qadri (Shopian), Mohd Rafiq Wani (Anantnag West), Syed Wazahat (Anantnag), Veer Saraf (Shangus-Anantnag East) and Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar (Kokernag-ST).
Shagun Parihar is the daughter of BJP activist Ajeet Parihar who was along with his brother Anil Parihar (who also was affiliated with the BJP) gunned down by militants in Kishtwar district in November 2018.
The last date for filing nominations for the first phase is August 27. The process of filing nominations for the second and third phases will begin from August 29 and September 5, respectively. In the last Assembly elections held in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, the BJP had won 25 seats-all in the Jammu region.