Cabinet reshuffle: J&K BJP leaders to call on party’s top brass today
The party’s two ministers had to resign following outrage over their alleged role in lending support to accused involved in rape and murder of eightyearold tribal girl in Kathua district
JAMMU : As a reshuffle in J&K cabinet is in the offing, top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of the state will be meeting the party’s top brass in New Delhi on Monday.
In the reshuffle that was necessitated after two BJP ministers — Chander Prakash Ganga and Choudhary Lal Singh — were forced to resign from the council of ministers following outrage over their alleged role in lending support to the accused involved in the rape and murder of an eightyear-old tribal girl in J&K’S Kathua, the party is also likely to drop few sitting ministers for their slack performance.
There are presently eight ministers in the party, including five cabinet and three ministers of state (MOS).
The charge of industries and commerce and forest departments, which were under the ministers who had resigned, has been allotted to deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh in addition
CABINET RESHUFFLE MAY TAKE PLACE BY THE WEEKEND AND COINCIDE WITH THE CLOSURE OF THE CIVIL SECRETARIAT IN JAMMU ON APRIL 27
to his existing portfolios.
As per the sources, BJP leaders from J&K will include state president Sat Sharma, general secretary (organisation) Ashok Kaul and deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh, who will meet party president Amit Shah, national general secretary and point man of BJP-PDP alliance Ram Madhav, minister of state Jitendra Singh and party in-charge, J&K affairs, Avinash Rai Khanna on Monday to discuss and finalise the names of candidates who will be inducted and dropped from the cabinet.
The top leadership will also be keeping close eye on the maintenance of regional and caste balance ahead of the 2019 Parliamentary elections.
The names of Sat Sharma, speaker Kavinder Gupta, former minister Choudhary Sukhnandan, Shakti Parihar, Davinder Manyal and Rajiv Jasrotia are doing the rounds for the ministerial slots.
As per the sources, role of Choudhary Lal Singh may be discussed in the meeting, who since his resignation, has adopted rebellious attitude.
After the names get finalised, party president Amit Shah will clear the list by mid-week.
It appears that the cabinet reshuffle may take place by the weekend, coinciding with the closure of the civil secretariat in Jammu on April 27.
PDP LIKELY TO INDUCT MINISTER TOO
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) too is likely to induct one minister after the dropping of finance minister Haseeb Drabu last month. At present, Altaf Bukhari is holding charge of both finance and education departments. The party is likely to change portfolios of couple of ministers as well.