Two more BJP leaders, including a district president, resigned from the party on Saturday, protesting the selection of candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls. Their departures come amid significant unrest over the BJP’s ticket distribution.
In a related development, hundreds of BJP workers rallied in the Khour block of the Chhamb Assembly constituency against the party’s decision to field former MLA Rajeev Sharma. The discontent began after the BJP released its list of candidates on August 26, leading to protests across several districts in Jammu.
To address the growing dissent, the BJP has sent top leaders, including Union ministers, to engage with disaffected members. Two rebel leaders have already filed as independent candidates from Ramban and Padder-Nagseni constituencies, which are part of the first phase of elections on September 18.
“With a heavy heart, I am submitting my resignation from the primary membership of the party for which I have worked for 42 long years. I was compelled by the circumstances after the party gave ticket to a person who had come from the National Conference (NC) and vociferously opposed our ideology for decades,” said Kashmir Singh, the BJP’s Samba district president.
The BJP has selected former minister Surjit Singh Slathia, who joined the party in October 2021 after leaving the NC, to contest from the Samba constituency. This seat, previously reserved for Scheduled Castes for 28 years, was recently opened to the general category.
“We strengthened the BJP in Samba and made numerous sacrifices to carry forward the ideology of Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee and the BJP. We held demonstrations and organised strikes for the revocation of Article 370 and the ticket was given to the one who was always against our ideology and the revocation of Article 370. This is not justice with ordinary workers,” Singh alleged.
Singh said he would reconsider his resignation if the party changes its candidate and gives the ticket to a senior party member. Otherwise, he plans to run as an independent. “I am going to take forward this struggle and file my nomination papers as an independent candidate against him,” he said, describing his decision as difficult but necessary.
In his resignation letter to Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina, Singh wrote, “I asked for ‘one reason for denying me the ticket, but no one was able to give a reply.’ The party valued me as a leader only when work was needed, but when it came to distributing tickets, they brought in someone from outside. If the ticket had been given to any party worker, I would not have taken this step, but bringing an outsider has left me with no other option,” he said, alleging that the BJP has become a place where favouritism overshadows dedication.
Another BJP leader, Kanav Sharma, resigned in protest of the party’s decision to award a ticket to Yudhvir Sethi from Jammu East. Sharma, Jammu district president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and a third-generation member of the party, called Sethi “well known for his corrupt practices when his wife Priya Sethi was education minister.” Sharma said, “I hereby tender my resignation along with my team members and my team is dissolved with immediate effect,” in his resignation letter posted on social media.
The BJP is experiencing strong resistance from party workers in various constituencies, including Jammu North, Jammu East, Paddar, Ramban, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Chhamb, and Akhnoor.
The first Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election in a decade will be held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1. This is the first Assembly poll in J&K since Article 370 was abrogated in 2019.
A total of 219 candidates are in the fray in the first phase of the three-phased Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.
(With PTI inputs)