Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 18: Ahead of Assembly elections in UT of J&K Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today received a shot in arm as former Minister and senior Apni Party leader, Zulfikar Choudhary along with hundreds of supporters, joined the party at a function held at BJP Headquarters, Trikuta Nagar, here, today saying he joined the party with his commitment to peace and development in the region.
He was welcomed into party by Union Minister and J&K Assembly election Incharge G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, BJP national general secretary and Prabhari J&K and Ladakh, Tarun Chugh, J&K BJP president, Ravinder Raina. They emphasised that his entry would boost the party’s grassroots-level presence in Jammu and Kashmir.
G. Kishan Reddy, while welcoming the Choudhary a veteran leader from twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri, said that the Modi Government granted the rights to the ST community after decades of injustices. He mentioned the grant of political reservation to the Gujjar and Bakerwal community for the first time after the revocation of Article 370 by the Modi Government.
He said that two crore tourists have reached here for the first time defeating terrorism. Peace, and development has replaced stone-pelting and separatism in Jammu & Kashmir under Modi rule. Tarun Chugh, while welcoming Choudhary Zulfikar attacked Abdullah, Mufti, and Nehru-Gandhi families for ditching and doing injustices to the Gujjar-Bakerwal community for 70 years. He said that these parties banned inter-district recruitment hence prohibiting the community from taking the benefit of Government jobs. For decades, the voice of this community went unheard, and now PM Modi has heard and acted upon the core issues of this community.
Dr. Jitendra Singh labelled Choudhary Zulfikar as the carrier of a political legacy that will benefit the area as well as the party. He said that the Modi Government strengthened the grassroots level democracy and progressed J&K on the development front.
Ravinder Raina also welcomed Ali and praised him for his extensive public-centric approach. He recalled that as a dedicated public representative, the former Minister brought many development projects for the welfare of the people.
Ali, expressed his satisfaction in joining the BJP, citing his admiration for Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s efforts for bringing peace and development to the region.
“I have chosen to join the BJP and Modi and Shah to steer our region towards progress, development and prosperity,” Ali told reporters.
He emphasised a departure from emotive politics often advocated by leaders from the Valley, and said “We do not have anything to do with emotional politics preached by political leaders from the Valley.”
J&K BJP general secretary Vibodh Gupta, former Minister, Abdul Ghani Kohli, former MP Talib Hussain Choudhary, DDC Iqbal Malik, district president, Dinesh Sharma and ST Morcha president Roshan Choudhary, were also present on the occasion.
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