Sinking Ship? Tiff between BJP’s Kashmir and Jammu units as party tries to gain ground in Valley

At a meeting held at a hotel in Srinagar, the BJP’s Kashmir leadership, which is made up of a number of prominent politicians, expressed their resentment at what they perceived as Jammu leaders’ purported control over the party.

Srinagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Kashmir unit witnessed an uprising Kashmir leadership against the Jammu-based leadership on Wednesday.

At a meeting held at a hotel in Srinagar, the BJP’s Kashmir leadership, which is made up of a number of prominent politicians, expressed their resentment at what they perceived as Jammu leaders’ purported control over the party.

After the meeting, the leaders were hesitant to speak with the waiting media outside the venue. Sofi Yusuf, the vice president of the BJP and a former lawmaker, downplayed the accusations of animosity and said that it was only an “organisational meeting”, The Telegraph reported.

Among the leaders who participated in the meeting were Altaf Thakur, the J&K spokesman and Hina Bhat.

In order to install a Hindu chief minister, the Jammu and Kashmir BJP reportedly is working hard to win over some prominent Muslim faces in the valley, but a fresh revolt inside the party seems to dent the party in assembly polls in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the media reports the Kashmir Unit of the Saffron party has decided to take up the issue of the alleged “sidelining” of its leader with the national head JP Nadda.

The leaders claimed that a 12-person core committee had been established to interact directly with the BJP’s national leadership.

Ravinder Raina, the party’s Jammu and Kashmir chairman, flew from Jammu to Srinagar on Wednesday to defuse tensions, but the Kashmir leaders refused to give him a hearing.

The party’s Jammu and Kashmir chairman, Ravinder Raina, who rushed from Jammu to Srinagar to defuse tensions, was ignored by the Kashmir leaders and stayed at the party’s Srinagar when the meeting was underway.