All is not well within J&K unit of BJP. As the District Development Council (DDC) polls were recently concluded, an elected member who wants to join the BJP is facing pressure from an influential lobby.
The incumbent BJP leadership in J&K is not willing to allow a newly elected member to join the party.
According to the sources, the DDC member tried but couldn’t secure a party ticket so he had to contest independently. He contested from a constituency in Jammu district. This leader has a significant amount of supporters which made him comfortably win the election by defeating candidates from all mainstream parties.
Sources said that the elected DDC member has associations with the party for a long time and was a dedicated BJP member. When he secured victory on his seat, he expressed his desire to join BJP but a lobby within the party has made his way into the party very difficult.
The J&K BJP leadership is finding it very difficult to counter pressure of the influential lobby so they are making excuses for delaying his entry.
Sources told Mandal Committee of BJP had recommended his name as party candidate from the constituency in DDC elections but dirty politics within the party ruined his chances of getting a ticket from party. Sources allege that a lobby within the party is working to cut down influence of all mass base leaders in BJP so that they can tighten their grip over the party.
There are also allegations that this lobby could be deemed responsible for wrong distribution of tickets by the BJP in the DDC elections which resulted into party losing even those seats which they could have won.
The DDC elections were held from 28 November 2020 in eight phases across the two-hundred and eighty DDC constituencies of J&K UT. People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) emerged victorious on 110 seats while BJP was declared as the single largest party by winning 75 seats.
