Ticket Tussle: Senior BJP Figure Resigns, Threatens Independent Bid

In yet another rebellion within the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir over ticket distribution for the Assembly poll, senior party leader Chander Mohan Sharma on Friday announced his resignation from the party and threatened to contest as an Independent candidate.

The BJP is facing resentment over its ticket distribution in the Union Territory, with party leaders and workers protesting in several districts of the Jammu region. This has prompted the party to launch a damage control exercise, deploying several top leaders, including Union Ministers, to defuse the situation.

“There is immense resentment and anger among leaders and workers of the party over the unfair distribution of mandates. They are holding protests to express their discontent. Saddened by this, I, one of the senior-most leaders of the BJP, along with others, have resigned from the party,” said Sharma, convenor of the ‘Tawi Andolan’.

Sharma, who had joined the BJP in the early 1970s, criticised the party leadership in J&K for improperly presenting the proposal for mandates to the party high command.

“We hope the party leadership accepts my resignation. However, if they reconsider their decision on the mandate change in the Jammu East Assembly segment, it is okay. Otherwise, I will accept the calls from workers who want me to contest independently from the Jammu East seat,” he said.

“The people of the Jammu East segment fully support us,” he said. “It is now time for the senior BJP leaders here to make a decision on this matter.” Sharma, who joined the Jan Sangh decades ago and faced multiple prison terms as a BJP activist, lamented at being ignored despite his senior position in the party unit.

Scores of BJP leaders from the Jammu North, Jammu East, Paddar, Reasi and Akhnoor segments have protested against the party at its headquarters and respective constituencies over the ticket distribution.