BJP’s RS win in J&K answer to political dynasts: Tarun Chugh

The BJP on Monday hailed as “historic” its maiden independent Rajya Sabha win from Jammu and Kashmir saying the development was an answer to the politics of nepotism and would impact the politics of north India going forward.

BJP national general secretary in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir Tarun Chugh dismissed NC, PDP and Congress allegations of horse trading behind the lone RS win for BJP JK chief Sat Sharma and said the party polled conscience votes.

“This is a victory of PM Modi and Amit Shah’s policies in the UT. This signals the acceptance of the BJP’s politics of good governance,” said Chugh, questioning the PDP for supporting NC candidates while being politically opposed to it.

Chugh also pointed to anxieties voiced by JK Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra about “things not going well with the NC” and asked whether the larger rank and file of the Congress and PDP were also in favour of supporting NC candidates.

“Dynasts in both the Congress and PDP took the decision to back NC candidates and make the Rajya Sabha fight a BJP versus all. The BJP still won on a conscience vote. Were the cadres of the PDP and Congress asked if they wanted what their dynastic leaderships decided? BJP’s win is an answer to nepotism of the NC, Congress and PDP where few families decide everything and workers and their sentiments do not matter,” said Chugh, adding that this pattern of all versus BJP would no longer work.

Chugh, who hails from Punjab's Amritsar, added that the attempt by parties to align against the BJP in Punjab will also fail as they did in the J & K Rajya Sabha poll. Out of four seats up for elections, BJP bagged one, against expectations, with the NC led parties accusing the saffron outfit of horse trading.

Sat Sharma got 32 votes -- four more than the BJP's assembly strength of 28 and defeated the NC nominee.

Speaking to The Tribune Chugh said "with the ruling NC facing a revolt from within", RS win of BJP will positively impact the results of the November 11 assembly bypolls in Nagrota and Budgam.

The BJP leader's reference was to NC Lok Sabha MPs Aga Ruhullah and Mian Altaf speaking up state government policies and Ruhullah, a former three term Budgam MLA, giving NC's assembly bypoll campaign a miss.

Winning Budgam is a matter of prestige for National Conference stalwart and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The byoll was necessitated after Omar retained Ganderbal over Budgam after winning both the seats in the 2024 assembly polls. The battle in Budgam this time is between three prominent Shia leaders representing NC (Agha Mehmood), PDP (Aga Syed Mehdi) and BJP's Aga Syed Mohsin.

In Nagrota, the BJP has fielded late MLA and former NC veteran Devender Rana's daughter Devyani to take on NC's Shamim Begum, JN Panthers' Party's Harsh Dev Singh and AAP's Joginder Singh.

Results of both bypolls will be announced on November 14 alongside those of Bihar elections.