SRINAGAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has witnessed a wave of resignations from its Channapora constituency team. This comes after the party decides to field a Congress defector, Hilal Ahmad Wani, as its candidate, sparking discontent among long-serving BJP workers.
Altaf Ahmad Pandit, the BJP’s constituency president for Channapora, and 40 team members, resigned in protest. The mass resignation, which included the constituency secretary Mir Mehraj, youth president Suhail Ahmad Bhat, and vice-president Parvaiz Ahmad, was confirmed by Pandit in a letter addressed to the BJP’s state president Ravinder Raina. “For the last six years, we gave our everything to the party. We created a team, and our efforts were appreciated by the leadership. But now, they’ve sidelined us and handed the ticket to someone else,” Pandit said.
Although the BJP has not yet officially announced the candidate’s name, sources suggest Hilal Ahmad Wani, a recent Congress defector, will be contesting from the Channapora seat. Interestingly, Wani’s son, Mehraj Hilal Wani, is running for the same seat under the banner of the Anarakshit Samaj Party, adding further complexity to the situation.
This internal dissent follows a growing trend within the BJP in Kashmir, where loyal party members feel sidelined in favour of newcomers. Just two weeks ago, Minha Lateef, the BJP’s sole District Development Council member from Pulwama, resigned after being denied a ticket for the Pampore assembly segment. Instead, the BJP selected Shokwat Gayoor, another recent entrant, to contest the seat.
The party’s local cadre, particularly those who have worked in the challenging political environment of Kashmir, accuse BJP’s internal power dynamics of undermining their years of dedication. They argue that newcomers are being prioritised over veterans who had been instrumental in raising the BJP’s profile in the Valley.
