Jammu: In a major boost to the BJP ahead of parliamentary elections, former Jammu and Kashmir minister and prominent Pahari leader Mushtaq Ahmad Shah Bukhari joined the party here on Thursday.
Bukhari, a two-time former MLA from Surankote in Poonch district, had resigned from the National Conference in February 2022 after an argument with party president Farooq Abdullah over granting Scheduled Tribe status to Pahari-speaking people.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP president RavinderRaina, along with other party leaders, welcomed Bukhari and hundreds of his supporters, including former bureaucrat G M Khuwaja and retired senior superintendent of police ShabirGeelani, into the party fold at the party headquarters here.
“I have kept my promise of joining a party which fulfils our long-pending demand of ST status. I am thankful to Prime Minister NarendraModi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Raina for doing justice with Paharis who have struggled for 40 long years for the ST status,” Bukhari told reporters.
The BJP-led central government recently added four communities — Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari Tribe and Pahari Ethnic group — to the list of Scheduled Tribes in Jammu and Kashmir.
After resigning from the NC, the former minister had said his statement at a function that “we will not hesitate in supporting any party which will help the community in achieving its demand of ST status did not go down well with the NC leadership and I was asked for an explanation.
