New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday faced a setback after two prominent leaders left from its Jammu and Kashmir unit just ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state. Kashmir Singh, the BJP’s Samba district president, announced his resignation from the party’s primary membership. Singh expressed his dissatisfaction with the BJP’s decision to award a ticket to Surjit Singh Slathia, a former Jammu and Kashmir minister who recently joined the BJP from the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC).
Singh, who has been with the party for 42 years, criticised the move. He said, “With a heavy heart, I am resigning from the primary membership of the party for which I have worked diligently for decades. The decision to grant a ticket to someone who previously opposed our ideology and the revocation of Article 370 is unjust to the dedicated workers of the party.”
Singh cites betrayal of party principles
Slathia, who had served as a minister in the Congress-NC coalition government led by Omar Abdullah, joined the BJP in 2021. Singh told about his own contributions to the party’s efforts in Samba. He said that the sacrifices made in support of the BJP’s agenda and the revocation of Article 370. He added that the ticket given to Slathia, who opposed these very principles, was unfair. Singh mentioned that he would retract his resignation if the party replaced Slathia with a senior BJP member. If not, he plans to contest as an independent candidate against Slathia.
Sharma quits over corruption allegations
Apart from that, BJP leader Kanav Sharma resigned in protest of the party’s decision to field Yudhvir Sethi from Jammu East. Sharma, the Jammu district chief of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, accused Sethi of corruption during his wife Priya Sethi’s tenure as education minister. Sharma said, “I am resigning along with my team members and my team is dissolved with immediate effect.” The Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, the first in a decade, are scheduled for September 18, 25, and October 1, with vote counting set for October 4.
