Two more leaders quit saffron party over nominees’ selection

Srinagar, August 31

The resentment within the BJP over ticket distribution in Jammu and Kashmir is refusing to die down as two more leaders from Jammu resigned from the party on Saturday.

In a related development, hundreds of BJP workers took out a rally in the Khour block of the Chhamb Assembly constituency on the outskirts of Jammu against fielding former MLA Rajeev Sharma from there.

The BJP is facing dissatisfation over its ticket distribution in the Union Territory immediately after it started releasing the list of candidates for the Assembly elections on August 26, with party leaders and workers protesting in several districts of the Jammu region.

Party’s Samba district president Kashmir Singh tendered his resignation today, stating “The BJP has become a place where favouritism overshadows dedication.”

“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,” he said.

The BJP has fielded former minister Surjit Singh Slathia, who joined the party in October 2021 after quitting the NC, from the Samba constituency. “The party valued me as a leader only when work was needed, but when it came to ticket distribution, they bring in someone from outside,” Singh said, adding, “I feel suffocated. Therefore, I am resigning from all my posts with immediate effect.”

“We strengthened the BJP in Samba and made numerous sacrifices to carry forward the ideology of Jana Sangh 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.

BJP youth leader Kanav Sharma from Jammu has also tendered his resignation from the party to protest against ticket to a “corrupt leader”.

“Yudhvir Sethi is well known for his corrupt practices, when his wife Priya Sethi was the education minister. Previously, Priya Sethi was made to step down from the ministry due to corruption allegations against them,” he said in the letter. “I hereby tender my resignation along with my team members and my team is dissolved with immediate effect,” Sharma said in his resignation letter posted on social media.

Ever since the list of candidates for Assembly polls have been released by the party, the BJP is facing protest from its leaders and workers, who have expressed disappointment for giving preference in ticket distribution to outsiders. Continuous protest demonstrations have rocked the party office in Jammu since Monday, when the list of candidates was released.

While the central leadership has rushed senior leaders to Jammu to diffuse the situation, it has not changed much on the ground.

Not only in Jammu, BJP’s faced strong resentment from party workers in the Valley. Many said their hard work was ignored and despite working in a challenging environment in Kashmir, the party did not give them due respect.