Efforts on to complete unfinished work

Vikram Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 31

Before becoming the Member of Parliament in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Jugal Kishore Sharma, 51, was elected twice from the Nagotra Assembly constituency in Jammu district to the state legislative Assembly. Coming from the RSS background, Jugal Kishore as a BJP leader held various positions in then party before becoming its state president in December 2012.

Strong anti-incumbency factor against the Congress and rise of Narendra Modi’s popularity in the BJP led the entire nation to desire for a change. Jammu and Kashmir too got affected and the Lok Sabha elections followed by the state Assembly elections gave the verdict inviting change with the PDP taking over in Kashmir in both elections and the BJP winning in Jammu.

Jugal Kishore won the prestigious Jammu-Poonch Constituency defeating former Congress MP Madan Lal Sharma. Jugal Kishore got 6,19,995 votes reflecting 18.52 per cent jump for the BJP from the previous elections. Madan Lal voted 3,62,715, recording 28.87 per cent, which was 16.40 per cent low for the Congress from its last elections. The BJP win for MPs and MLAs in the state can be attributed to the “Modi wave” at the Centre.

However, the MP said he was instrumental in bringing national highway project worth Rs 5,100 crore from the Centre that included four-laning for Akhnoor and double-laning for Poonch district.

He said he helped in the recruitment of youth of the border areas in the armed forces. Five battalions have been engaged in recruiting youth in the belt forces. Earlier, there was no provision under the SRO 43 for such recruitment.