BJP never officially deliberated on separate Jammu state: LoP

Jammu, Jan 24: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and the Leader of Opposition in J&K Legislature, Sunil Sharma, on Saturday, dismissed ìconjecturesî that he was aspiring to be J&K chief minister and asserted that his party never officially deliberated on the prospects of a separate Jammu state.

Sharma, while responding to media queries on the sidelines of a training workshop for BJP MLAs at the party headquarters in Trikuta Nagar, Jammu, said, ìBJP has a principled stand, and we fully believe in it that Jammu and Kashmir is a unit. In fact, we believe that J&K, with its frontiers extended to those areas under the illegal occupation of Pakistan, is one unit. Those illegally occupied areas are part of J&K state is our principled stance. Officially, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not in favour of the (J&K) stateís division.î

If the party is not deliberating on a separate Jammu state, do the statements of BJP MLAs Sham Lal Sharma and Vikram Randhawa on this account point out internal wrangling within the BJP?

Faced with this query, Sharma said, ìThere is no internal bickering. I have never said that we will never disintegrate. Iíve said that so far, there is no such discussion or thought in our party ñ no deliberations on a big scale or at the top level. At an administrative level, new states are formed, and old states are divided. But so far at the administrative level, the BJP or the Government of India has not been deliberating to divide J&K. The discussion has been initiated by an individual. When the deliberations start on a platform, we can answer them. But so far, officially, the BJP has not deliberated on it.î

When his comment was elicited on Peoples Conference (PC) President Sajad Loneís remark that he (Lone) would pray for a separate Jammu state, the LOP in J&K Legislature sharply reacted, saying, ìSajad Ghani Lone has emerged victorious from one seat. There is only one seat in his partyís kitty. How can he talk about the state? First, ask him to expand the reach of his party in 10 districts of the Kashmir region at least, then in the entire J&K. Following it, he may talk about the division of the state. If he wants to carve a separate tehsil or district from Handwara, then he may talk as the people have given him the mandate of a single constituency ñ Handwara and not the entire J&K.î

Is Sharma in the race for the mantle of the Chief Minister of J&K, as is being alleged by CM Omar Abdullah?

ìNo, never. I want to clarify that in the BJP, no worker joins the party with a dream to be the CM or the PM. We have reached this place after a protracted struggle. Iíve come from a humble background. Iím a simple person belonging to an ordinary, poor family, and for me, (spirit of) service, nation, religion and society come first. They take precedence over everything else. (To be) The Chief Minister is not a big deal. However, after watching the situation of this (J&K) Chief Minister, even those who would have aspired to be so would have lost the charm of that dream,î Sharma said.

He further used the occasion to aim ìdynastic barbî at the political adversary and in the same breath, the BJP leader said, ìAs far as the Abdullah family is concerned, with a guarantee, I can prophesize vis-‡-vis the Chief Minister, for the next fifty years. Who would be the CM (as and when NC comes to power) during the next 50 years? The person would be only from the Abdullah family. NC would not have the CM, other than the scion of the Abdullah family.î

Further elaborating on this account, he referred to the names of veteran NC leaders.

ìSee, there are veteran leaders in the NC who gave their whole lives to the party. There is (Ali Mohammad) Sagar Sahib; (Abdul Rahim) Rather Sahib, and Shafi Uri Sahib ñ they were crushed; their sentiments, dreams, aspirations (to reach the top post)… remain unrealised. In the NC, the right to dream of being the CM vests in the Abdullah family only. As far as Iím concerned, Iím very happy and satisfied ñ whatever Iím. After watching their situation, we feel good to be in the BJP,î he said.

Confronted with a query about the strategy of BJP legislators to corner the government in the ensuing assembly session, the LoP said that it (government) was already in the soup due to its own failures and disappointing acts.

ìYou (media) too would have noticed it through the Budgam election result. During the 2024 assembly elections, the NC bagged 42 seats, yet in the by-poll, it lost the (Budgam) seat won by the Chief Minister himself. This was the result of their (NCís) wrong policies, mis-governance. I believe the Budgam (by-election) result was the peopleís referendum against their governance, as they lost even the Chief Ministerís seat. People rejected them, and they lost the seat, which they had never lost after independence,î Sharma said.

He reiterated that the (elected J&K) government had badly failed on the governance front and was already cornered.

Regarding the controversy about the location to establish National Law University (NLU), Sunil Sharma said, ìWe (BJP) are in favour of establishing two NLUs (in J&K). I hope that as and when NLU is sanctioned (for J&K), one will be in Jammu and the other in Kashmir.î

About the training workshop for BJP MLAs, he said, ìBJP, whenever delegates new responsibilities to its workers, it organises training workshops for them to acquaint them with its (partyís) traditions, work culture, discipline and ideology at different levels ñ Mandal, Zilla, state and even at the national level.î

ìThe BJP workers, when working in public life or entering electoral politics, should reflect the same virtues and even as the public representatives. To ensure that the party organises different training workshops. Todayís training session for 29 BJP MLAs is one of those workshops. Senior leaders of the party, including former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Thakur Jai Ramji, Delhi assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta Thakur and BJP national general secretary (organisation) and in-charge J&K affairs Tarun Chugh, will train and explain to the legislators how to strengthen the organisation,î he said.