JAMMU: Former Minister of State for Road and Buildings (R&B) Sunil Sharma was elected as leader of the Jammu and Kashmir BJP legislature party on Sunday, November 3 in a party meeting of all MLAs held in Srinagar. The MLA from Padder Nagseni in the Kishtwar district is all set to be the leader of the opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly. Incidentally, Padder Nagseni was earlier a part of the Kishtwar assembly constituency he had won in 2014 elections.
The 47-year-old BJP leader was elected for a second term in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in the elections held in September this year. Sharma had won with a narrow margin from Padder Nagseni, a newly created constituency after the 2022 delimitation process in the Union Territory (UT).
“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 election of the legislature party leader was held a day earlier than the maiden assembly session which begins tomorrow (November 4). The central leadership of the BJP had sent party leader Tarun Chugh and veteran Prahlad Joshi to supervise the election of the legislature party leader.
In the first session of the newly elected legislature, the first items of business will be holding of election for the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the assembly. It is most likely that the ruling National Conference (NC) will field veteran Abdul Rahim Rather for the post of Speaker. Rather was elected for the seventh time as MLA in the recent elections from Budgam district and has been defeated but once in the year 2014.
He is considered a heavyweight and started working for the NC decades ago when party founder Sheikh Abdullah was alive. Later, Rather remained a close confidante of Farooq Abdullah under whom he serve d as finance minister.
It is not clear whether the NC will offer the post of Deputy Speaker to the BJP as was done by the PDP-BJP coalition government when it offered the post of Deputy Speaker to the NC, then in opposition. There are contradictory signals emanating from NC rank and file, as also its leaders, regarding the Deputy Speaker’s post. Some party leaders are of the view that the post should be offered to the BJP as it will help smoothen ruffled feathers after bitterly fought assembly elections. Many others are, however, not in favour of doing so as they do not want to be seen as being soft towards the BJP.
After Sunil Sharma’s election, a party spokesman said Narinder Singh will be the BJP’s candidate for the post of deputy speaker. Singh is a first time MLA and had defeated veteran Congress leader Raman Bhalla from Jammu South-RS Pura assembly segment. He is the only Sikh legislator in the assembly and Yogi Adityanath’s campaigning in his constituency is believed to have helped him in turning the tables on Bhalla.
Talking to reporters after the election, Sharma said he is grateful to the party’s central and state leadership for giving him this responsibility. Incidentally, Sharma had worked for a long time organising village defence committees (VDCs) in many areas of Kishtwar. A hardworking party worker, Sharma used to travel for hours on foot in mountainous regions.
“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,” Sharma 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.”
