Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
PAVING the way for a Cabinet reshuffle in Jammu and Kashmir, all BJP ministers in the PDP-BJP government, barring Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, have resigned.
On Tuesday evening, one of the former ministers said on condition of anonymity that there is no question of pulling out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led government.
Although there was no official word from the party, sources said the resignations were submitted to the party’s state present, Sat Sharma, on Saturday, when BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav had visited Jammu for consultations with senior party leaders and legislators before deciding on the resignation of then ministers Chander Parkash Ganga and Choudhary Lal Singh over their purported stand in the Kathua gangrape and murder probe.
Announcing the party’s decision to forward resignations of Ganga and Lal Singh to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Madhav had said that there is no threat to the coalition.
The BJP has six Cabinet-rank ministers and three ministers of state in the 22-member council of ministers led by Mehbooba. Sajad Gani Lone of People’s Conference is also in the cabinet from the BJP quota.
According to sources, the BJP top leadership was unhappy with the performance of a few ministers, and asked all ministers from the party to submit their resignations to pave way for a portfolio reshuffle. Sources said the idea is to drop two non-performing ministers against whom there had been several complaints, even from among party legislators and workers. But since asking just the two of them to step down would have led to infighting, every minister from the party was asked to quit, a source said.
Although the Chief Minister herself could have dropped anyone from her council, sources in BJP said any such move would have sent a wrong signal —- both within and outside the party —- about the BJP succumbing to PDP’s pressure.
Sources said Lal Singh and Ganga are unlikely to be taken back, and the axe may fall on two others: a Cabinet minister and a minister of state. Minister of State for Transport (independent charge) Sunil Sharma is likely to be elevated to Cabinet rank, and Shakti Parihar from Doda and Dr D K Manyal from Samba may be the new faces in the council of ministers, sources said.
On Saturday, Ram Madhav had said that vacancies created by Lal Singh and Ganga’s departure would be filled soon by new faces. He had also admitted that there was lack of discretion on part of both ministers in meeting Hindu Ekta Manch leaders – the duo allegedly took part in a rally in which the Manch was demanding a CBI probe into the Kathua gangrape-murder case.
Singh and Ganga had said that the party’s state unit president Sat Sharma had sent them to Hiranagar to meet the protesters and listen to their demand for transferring the case from the state police’s Crime Branch to the CBI.