BJP’s warring J&K unit wants new faces in Mehbooba Cabinet
The party leadership was ‘rattled’ by the recent call for bandh given by Jammu Chamber of Commerce against BJP ministers.
The BJP’s state unit in Jammu and Kashmir, is infested with intra- party bickering and most of the party’s workers in Jammu along with many lawmakers have told the BJP’s general secretary in-charge of J&K affairs, Ram Madhav that the party’s central leadership should intervene and save the party from further erosion.
During the recent fourday visit of Home Minister Rajnath Singh to J&K, dozens of delegations from both Jammu and Kashmir talked in “louder tones” against the BJP ministers in the Mehbooba Mufti Cabinet. The party leadership was “rattled” by the recent call for bandh given by Jammu Chamber of Commerce against the BJP ministers and the party for ignoring Jammu region.
Ram Madhav was told to “sort out” the issues within the BJP’s rank and file in J& K, especially in the Jammu region. He was told by the party workers and many MLAs that they were not being heard by the ministers and the PDP gov- ernment was not doing anything to safeguard the interests of the BJP in Jammu.
Earlier on Thursday, Kashmir based BJP leaders and workers told Ram Madhav during different meetings in Srinagar that the party ministers were not solving any day-to-day problems of the workers and instead were only tak- ing along PDP leaders and workers in the valley.
The workers both in Kashmir and Jammu regions have reportedly told Madhav that if the panchayat elections are held today, they will receive a drubbing as their influence on the ground is on wane. They told Madhav that the central leadership should intervene and change the BJP ministers in order to save the party at the grassroots.
As speculation about the reshuffle in the state Cabinet is making rounds in the media circles, the Madhav-Mehbooba meeting in Jammu on Friday assumed more significance. According to the BJP insiders in Jammu, a reshuffle was on the cards. However, no party leader or minister has confirmed the same.
Ram Madhav was told by the BJP workers and many MLAs that the PDP government was not doing anything to safeguard the interests of the BJP in Jammu.