Sat Pal Sharma elected J&K BJP president unopposed

Jammu, Jan 24 (PTI) Veteran leader Sat Pal Sharma was elected unopposed as the president of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP on Friday. This would be his second term as the party’s Jammu and Kashmir chief.

Sharma called upon workers to support him in strengthening the party in the Union Territory.

“Sat Pal Sharma has been elected unopposed in the elections. I congratulate him on his victory,” returning officer (RO) Sanjay Bhatia announced at a function organised at the party headquarters here.

Sharma, who was nominated as president of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the party in November last year, filed his nomination papers for the president’s post on Thursday as part of organisational elections under the ongoing “Sangathan Parv” of the party at the national level.

He was the sole candidate to file the papers in front of the national returning officer Sanjay Bhatia, a former member of Parliament from Haryana appointed by the party high command to conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Flanked by Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, Leader of Opposition in the J-K Assembly Sunil Sharma, national observer Shrikant Sharma, the party’s general secretary organisation Ashok Kaul, and other senior leaders, BJP national vice president Saudan Singh honoured him with a headgear and a garland.

“I thank the entire leadership from the centre to the grassroot workers for providing me with another opportunity and trusting me to lead the party in Jammu and Kashmir,” Sharma said after assuming the party chief’s role here.

He sought the support of party workers in further strengthening the organisation.

“Together, we can make this party stronger in Jammu and Kashmir. We achieved the highest vote share in the recent Assembly elections. I seek your support to elevate this organisation to new heights and ensure service to the people of J-K,” he said.

In November last year, the BJP high command appointed him as the head of the party’s Union Territory unit.

Sharma, 63, was denied a party ticket in the recent Assembly elections. He was appointed as the working president of the party in September amid resentment over ticket distribution and later elevated to the post of president, replacing the party’s longest-serving J-K unit president Ravinder Raina.

Raina, who had succeeded Sharma in May 2018 and held the post for six-and-a-half years, has been made a member of the party’s national executive.

Born into a Dogra family in Jammu, Sharma is a chartered accountant by profession, who won from the Jammu West Assembly constituency on a BJP ticket for the first time in 2014. He also served as a Cabinet minister for 40 days in the PDP-BJP government, which collapsed in 2018 after the saffron party withdrew its support.

Sharma held this post for two-and-a-half years between 2015 and 2018.

“I congratulate Sharma ji on his election to the post of president,” Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said.

He said, “Under Sharma’s leadership, BJP workers will unleash their full potential to contribute to the growth of the country, and people will credit the party workers of J-K for their contributions to the country’s development.”