Sat Sharma replaces Raina as J&K BJP chief

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday appointed former minister Sat Sharma as the party chief of Jammu and Kashmir replacing the longest serving president Ravinder Raina.

Ravinder Raina lost the Assembly election from the Nowshera constituency of Rajouri district to NC, candidate Surinder Choudhary. Choudhary is now the Deputy Chief Minister in Omar Abdullah-headed J&K Government.

Ravinder Raina has been appointed as a member of the BJP’s national working committee.

Sat Sharma has remained the president of BJP from 2015 to 2018 after which he was replaced by Raina. Sharma was expecting ticket in the recent Assembly polls but was denied after which he was made the working president of the party.

Born in a Dogra family in Jammu, Sharma is a chartered accountant and won from the Jammu West Assembly constituency on a BJP ticket for the first time in 2014 and also served as Cabinet Minister for 40 days in the PDP-BJP government which collapsed in 2018 after the saffron party withdrew its support.

The change of leadership in the BJP has come amid preparations of urban local bodies and Panchayat polls in J&K.

Sat Sharma thanked the senior leadership of the party for granting him the opportunity to serve the party in J&K. “It is my upmost duty to work for the welfare of the party. The party got a historic mandate during the Assembly polls as it was able to win 29 seats,” he said.