Jammu, Jan 16:
Ravinder Raina, once aRashtriyaSwayamsewakSangh (RSS) Pracharak, will continue to lead the BJP’s J&K unit for the third time in a row, according to sources, because the party’s high command has chosen not to change guard in J&K ahead of the Assembly elections.
“The term of Ravinder Raina as President of BJP’s J&K unit expired on December 31, 2022,” J&K BJP Press Secretary, Dr Pardeep Mahotra, told Rising Kashmir adding, “So far, there is no official notification from the party high command so it can be assumed that Raina will continue to lead the party’s J&K unit”.
“The BJP is expecting Assembly elections in J&K, thus the decision to continue with Raina has been taken,” he added.
Prior to joining the BJP, Ravinder Raina was a RSS’s Pracharak.. He joined the BJP in 2010. He has also served as State President of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the BJP’s youth wing.As a BJP contender in 2014, Raina won the Nowshera Assembly seat. He is seen as being quite close to the RSS.
Raina was first elected as J&K BJP President in 2018, replacing Sat Sharma, who was appointed as a cabinet minister in the BJP-PDP coalition government. Raina’s tenure was set to expire in 2019, however due to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the party’s high leadership extended his term as J&K unit President by one year.
In January 2020, Raina was re-elected as J&K BJP President and his re-election was seen as reward to him for BJP’s good show in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in Jammu region where the BJP won both the Lok Sabha seats, Jammu-Poonch and Kathua-Doda-Udhampur Lok Sabha seat.
Now, again the BJP has decided that Raina will lead the party in J&K as it is expecting that Assembly elections here could be held this year. Apart from this, there are Parliamentary elections in 2024 and Municipal elections later this year in J&K.
