Thakur Incharge J&K polls, Shahnawaz co-Incharge
*PAGD reaches consensus on Phase-II seats
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 15: BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda today appointed Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur as Incharge and Shahnawaz Hussain, former Union Minister and party spokesperson and Sanjay Bhatia, MP as co-Incharges for District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir while the BJP UT unit released second list of 46 candidates for third, fourth and fifth phases comprising one former Minister, an ex-legislator, a `bahubali’ and a JKAS officer, who had taken voluntary retirement from the services even as the NC, Congress and PDP have finalized 18 candidates for Phase-II seats in Jammu region though their leaders didn’t rule out “friendly contest” on some of the constituencies.
In a statement, the BJP said its party president has appointed Union Minister Anurag Thakur, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, as the Election Incharge for upcoming DDC elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir while Shahnawaz Hussain, former Union Minister and national spokesman and Sanjay Bhatia, MP, have been appointed as co-Incharges for the polls.
As exclusively reported by the Excelsior earlier, many Union Ministers including Smriti Irani, Dr Jitendra Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Partap Sarangi, Gen (Retd) VK Singh and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur besides national leaders Tarun Chug, Incharge general secretary J&K, Zafar-ul-Islam and Dushyant Gautam will be star campaigners in J&K elections.
Among the prominent candidates whose names figured in party’s second list for the DDC elections include Shakti Raj Parihar, former Minister from Gundana, Doda, Bharat Bhushan, former MLA Domana from Bhalwal, Saraf Singh Nag, who had taken voluntary retirement as JKAS officer and lost 2014 Assembly election from Reasi by just few hundred votes, from Bhomag in Reasi and Joginder Singh alias Kaku, a “bahubali’ whose name figured in two murder cases, from Nagrota seat.
BJP president Ravinder Raina was not available for comments on giving mandate to the ‘bahubali’ while party general secretary Dr Devinder Kumar Manyal, who released the list, said the BJP has three-tier system of finalizing the candidates from Mandal to district level followed by the Election Committee. He said BJP’s senior leaders Sunil Sethi and Narayan Singh apart from MP Jugal Kishore Sharma have cleared the names for Jammu district.
Other names cleared by the BJP include Vandana Kumar, Marh, Geetu Aulakh, Mandal Phallian, Vidya Mottan, Miran Sahib, Shilpa Dubey, Vijaypur-A, Sudershan Singh, Vijaypur-B, Keshav Dutt Sharma, Ramgarh-A, Kartar Chand, Nud, Sarbjeet Singh Johal, Ramgarh-B, Sushma Thakur, Kalakote, Vipan Mehta, Dhangri, Mohinder Singh, Nowshera, Asif Choudhary, Doongi, Rajinder Singh, Sunderbani, Sehrish Rafiq Chashti, Nangali Sahib Sain Baba, Mohammad Rafiq Chashti, Poonch, Hussain Bani, Nagseni, Salim Begum, Inderwal, Suman Shakti, Mugal Maidan, Deepak Sharma, Palmar, Aruna Rani, Thakraie, Dhanantar Singh, Bhaderwah East, Yudhvir Thakur, Bhaderwah West, Vashan Parihar, Kahara, Sandeep Singh Manhas, Thathri, Karen Tinda, Gool, Karanjit Singh, Ukhral-A, Balbir Singh Bali, Ukhral-B, Rattan Singh, Mahore, Monika, Thuroo, Abdul Rashid, Jij Bagli, Raj Kumari, Arnas, Rakesh Chander Sharma, Ghordi, Subash Chander, Narsoo, Juhi Manhas, Khoon, Col Mahan Singh, Basohli, Vikram Singh, Billawar, Rimmi Charak, Dinga Amb, Karan Kumar Atri, Marheen and Narayan Dutt Tripathi, Nagrota Gujroo.
Meanwhile, the National Conference, Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), held another round of talks on seat adjustments in the Jammu region today.
Insiders said the three political parties have reached consensus 18 seats of Phase-II of the Jammu region in first three and talks will continue for remaining phases. The DDC elections are being held in eight phases from November 28 to December 19.
However, according to the insiders, there can be “friendly contest” on some of the seats in the Jammu region though the Alliance leaders are trying to reach a consensus on majority of seats.
The three parties have already reached electoral understanding of Phase-I seats.
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