Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, Sep 27: Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the latest rejig has dropped its point man for J&K, Ram Madhav, from the list of the office bearers of the party.
After the rejig Madhav tweeted: “Congratulations to the newly appointed office-bearers of the BJP. Grateful to the party leadership for providing me the opportunity to serve for one term as General Secretary.”
A BJP leader from J&K while talking to Precious Kashmir said, “We were surprised after Madhav was dropped. During his tenure as national general secretary of the party, Madhav worked closely with the leaders in Kashmir. He knew in and out of Kashmir. I can’t say who would replace Madhav in the party and who will handle J&K in the times to come but one thing is for sure BJP leaders in J&K will miss Madhav.”
The BJP leader said, “Madhav played a significant role in building the base of the party in J&K and he used to consider everyone equal.”
A political analyst said, “Many BJP leaders were alive in the party in Kashmir due to Madhav. Now these leaders will have to look for other mentors to survive as not many BJP leaders in the Valley have been able to make their presence felt on the ground.”
He said, “Madhav is a seasoned politician and BJP leadership is aware of the fact that he is well versed with J&K affairs it may consider him for some other important assignment. It’s too early to write off Madhav. BJP leadership may spring a surprise.”
It’s in place to mention here that BJP on Saturday dropped old horses including Ram Madhav, Uma Bharti and P Murlaidhar from the list of national office bearers.
Media reports claimed that these leaders were dropped for their “ poor performance and for speaking out of turn.”
The media reports stated that RSS may have a “different” role in mind for Madhav whose high profile and proclivity to speak to the media on a variety of topics, including those not seen to fall in his domain, may not have gone down well with a section of the party. “Madhav’s strong defense of the Modi government and the party’s policies in the media and other forums, including think tanks, are seen as his strength,” the reports added.
A senior BJP leader from J&K said that Madhav and others being dropped from the list of national party bearers is a “routine exercise.” “BJP believes in giving chance to everyone. All leaders are party workers and our party believes in promoting everyone. Who knows Madhav may get a bigger role in coming days,” the BJP leader said.
Ram Madhav’s exclusion from list of party bearers surprises J&K BJP leaders
