The BJP’s Jammu Kashmir unit will hold a meeting in Srinagar on Sunday to elect its legislature party leader ahead of the first assembly session in the Union Territory to be held on November 4 after a six-year gap.
The BJP bagged its all-time high of 29 seats in the recently held Jammu Kashmir Assembly elections.
However, its MLA Devender Singh Rana, who won the Nagrota assembly segment by a margin of over 30,000 votes and was a frontrunner for the leader of opposition post because of his political stature within the party, died on Thursday following an illness.
Known as the “voice of Jammu”, he quit the National Conference along with his close associate and former minister S S Slathia and joined the BJP in October 2021.
Last month, the BJP’s parliamentary board appointed Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and the party’s national general secretary Tarun Chugh as observers to elect the legislature party leader in Jammu Kashmir.
According to BJP sources, the meeting will take place in Srinagar on Sunday morning and will be attended by all 28 MLAs and senior party leaders, including its Jammu Kashmir unit chief Ravinder Raina.
They said the leader of the opposition will be chosen at the meeting, and the name will be forwarded to the party’s central leadership.
Five names are under active consideration but things will be cleared once the meeting takes place, the sources said.
The National Conference (NC) has emerged as the single largest party in the Jammu Kashmir Assembly polls with 42 seats and has a comfortable majority in the 95-member House as its alliance partners Congress and CPI(M) have won six seats and one seat, respectively.
The NC also enjoyed the support of six of the seven Independent MLAs and of the Aam Aadmi Party which has also opened its account in Jammu Kashmir by winning the Doda segment.
The PDP has won three seats and the Peoples’ Conference one seat while five are nominated members.
The first session of the newly elected Jammu Kashmir legislative assembly is scheduled to begin with the election of the Speaker followed by the lieutenant governor’s address on November 4.
According to the calendar issued by Pro-tem Speaker Mubarak Gul, the Assembly will make obituary references the next day while the discussion on the motion of thanks on the L-G’s address will be held on November 6 and 7. Response to the motion of thanks on the L-G’s address will be conducted on November 8. PTI