Sunil elected as BJP legislature party leader; Sat replaces Raina as BJP chief

Narinder will be candidate for post of deputy speaker

Jammu: Ahead of the first-ever Assembly session, Former minister Sunil Sharma has been elected as s the leader of the Jammu and Kashmir BJP legislature party, simultaneously former minister Sat Paul Sharma replaces party's longest-serving J&K unit president Ravinder Raina.
"Sunil Sharma has been elected as the BJP legislature party leader. He will be the leader of the opposition in the assembly," a BJP spokesman said after a meeting of the Legislature party here.
The 47-year-old BJP leader was elected for a second term in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. Sharma won with a narrow margin from Padder Nagseni, a newly created constituency after the 2022 delimitation process in the Union Territory.
Sharma was a minister of state in the PDP-BJP coalition government from 2014 to 2018.
The spokesman said Narinder Singh will be the party's candidate for the post of deputy speaker.
Talking to reporters after the election, Sharma said he is grateful to the party's central and state leadership for giving him this responsibility.
"With the help, experience and blessings of my MLA colleagues, I will discharge my duties. Keeping in mind the party policies and aspirations of the people, we will be the voice of the people in the assembly and outside as well," he said.
Asked about his priorities in the assembly, Sharma said, "I have just been appointed. The battle will start tomorrow. We have to see where the enemy is hiding and we will attack accordingly."
Simultaneously, former minister Sat Paul Sharma returned as the head of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of BJP, a post he had held for two-and-a-half years between 2015 and 2018.
Sharma, 63, was denied a party ticket in the recent assembly election. He was appointed as working president of the party in September amid resentment over ticket distribution and is now elevated to the post of president, replacing the party's longest-serving J-K unit president Ravinder Raina.
Raina, who had replaced Sharma in May 2018 and held the post for six-and-a-half years, has been made a member of the party's national executive. He had failed to retain his Nowshera constituency of Rajouri district as he was defeated by National Conference candidate and now deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary.
Born in a Dogra family in Jammu, Sharma is a chartered accountant and won from the Jammu West assembly constituency on a BJP ticket for the first time in 2014 and also served as cabinet minister for 40 days in the PDP-BJP government which collapsed in 2018 after the saffron party withdrew its support.
“I am thankful to the central leadership for giving me this responsibility for the second time. I will try to overcome any shortcoming during my first tenure and will play my role to ensure the party can script history,” the BJP leader said.
He said the recent assembly elections gave the BJP "a historic mandate of 29 seats (out of 90) with a 26 per cent vote share as it made big strides across the Union Territory, especially in the Valley".
“I am a long-time party worker and we will try to take the party to new heights with the support of the workers and the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Sharma said.
Sharma was appointed J-K BJP president for the first term in December 2015.
It has been less than three weeks after the assembly election results in Jammu and Kashmir and the change of guard in the BJP comes at a time when the Union Territory is gearing up for the urban local bodies and panchayat elections which are likely to take place early next year.