JAMMU — Newly-elected Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Sat Sharma on Monday vowed to fight all forms of anti-national narratives and committed himself to equal development of both the Jammu and the Kashmir regions of the Union Territory.
Soon after taking over the party responsibility in Jammu, Sharma told IANS, “Our 28 MLAs and party workers in the field will work hard to counter anyone who tries to harm the interest of the Union Territory.”
Asked about the recent spurt in terror attacks in J&K, Sharma said, “Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, terrorism will be dealt with firmly.”
“We saw the Assembly elections were conducted without any untoward incident. I am confident the Central government and the L-G administration will firmly deal with all such activities in future,” he said.
The new J&K BJP chief also thanked PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the National President J.P. Nadda for giving him the opportunity to lead the party in J&K for the second time.
Outgoing state BJP chief Ravinder Raina also hit out at UT politicians allegedly trying to mislead people by claiming to bring a proposal in the J&K Assembly to revive Article 370 of the Constitution.
“It is just propaganda. Article 370 was abrogated on August 5, 2019, by Parliament after due discussion. The matter does not fall in the domain of the state Assembly. Those who are talking about holding discussions on Article 370 in Assembly are trying to mislead a section of people in the Valley,” he said.
Raina has been appointed as a member of the BJP’s national working committee.
Sharma took over the role of J&K BJP president on a day when National Conference (NC) leader and seven-time MLA Abdul Rahim Rather was elected as J&K Assembly Speaker.
On Sunday, the BJP elected Sunil Sharma as its Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Assembly and nominated Narender Singh for the post of Deputy Speaker.
BJP won 29 seats in the 90-member Assembly while the NC got 42, Congress won 6, PDP 3, CPI-M 1, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 1, Peoples Conference (PC) 1 and Independents won 7 seats in the recent elections. — (IANS)