Jammu, Oct 23: The newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs—Sunil Sharma, Devender Singh Rana, Dr Narinder Singh, Dr Devender Manyal and Sham Lal Sharma—are the leading candidates for the positions of Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Deputy Speaker in the first Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Except for Sunil Sharma and Devender Manyal, who have been re-elected to the Legislative Assembly as BJP candidates, the other three—Rana, Singh and Sharma—are newly elected members of the J&K Assembly.
Apart from these five, the remaining newly elected BJP MLAs are mostly young and newcomers to the Legislative Assembly.
A senior BJP leader, who wished to remain anonymous, said all five MLAs—Sunil Sharma, Devender Singh Rana, Dr Narinder Singh, Dr Devender Manyal and Sham Lal Sharma—are experienced enough to manage House proceedings as Deputy Speaker and effectively fulfill the role of Leader of Opposition.
A Legislative Party meeting is expected soon to reach a consensus on the names for LoP and Deputy Speaker among these candidates.
The BJP Parliamentary Board has appointed Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and National General Secretary Tarun Chugh as Central Observers for the election of the party’s legislative team leader and Deputy Speaker in the J&K Legislative Assembly.
The BJP achieved its best-ever performance in the recent Assembly elections in J&K, winning 29 out of the total 43 seats in the Jammu region. This marked its highest tally in the history of J&K Assembly elections.
