With the appointment of new Advisor to Raj Bhawan expected for the last few months, New Delhi has discussed the matter afresh with Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha during his recent visit to the national capital.
Top sources said during the sidelines of the meeting chaired by the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah to review situation in J&K, the issue of Advisors was discussed.
Sources, quoted by a Local news agency, KDC said Shah discussed the issue with Manoj Sinha for a couple of minutes and that subsequently some more meetings were held on the issue at various levels.
It was reliably learnt that the names of few of the persons shortlisted for the post were also discussed at length. The sources said the appointment of the new Advisor was expected after a much-expected meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office.
“The final word on the appointment of the Advisors will come only after a word from the honorable Prime Minister Narendra Bhai Modi Ji,” said a source privy to the issue.
The sources said names of at least four prominent persons including two former police officials and one veteran from the Indian Army are already in the “pipeline”.
The names were learnt by Srinagar based news agency Kashmir Dot Com that Ashok Prasad, SP Vaid, Monahar Kumar, Kewal Kumar Sharma, Arvind Kumar and Tariq Bhat of ANN News were in the race list.
It was reliably learnt that some leaders from the Bharatiya Janta Party have been wanting that the new Advisor should be a BJP cadre preferably from Jammu region.
The name of a senior journalist is also doing the rounds for the Advisor’s chair.
It’s pertinent to mention that in March 2022, Farooq Khan, who was Advisor to Jammu and Kashmir had submitted his resignation.
Earlier, KK Sharma who was also an Advisor was appointed as the State Election Commissioner (SEC) while K Skandan, K Vijay Kumar and Khurshid Ganaie had left the chair. Baseer Khan however was removed from the chair. As of now the Raj Bhawan has only one Advisor, RR Bhatnagar.
There has been a demand for the appointment of new Advisors for even effective deliverance of good governance in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been on the path of peace and prosperity since the abrogation of the so called special status of J&K.