BJP rebel Chander Mohan Sharma, who resigned from the party recently, today filed his nomination as an Independent from the Jammu East constituency. In a related development, another BJP dissident Pawan Khajuria announced to contest as an Independent from the Udhampur East constituency.
It is pertinent to mention that Sharma had worked for the saffron party for decades while Khajuria is the vice-president of the UT unit of the BJP.
On Monday, Khajuria had said he might throw his hat in the poll ring after the party decided to field RS Pathania from Udhampur East. As Pathania filed his nomination on Tuesday, Khajuria finalised his decision to contest the poll.
Khajuria announced at a press conference that he would file his nomination on Wednesday. Khajuria stressed that he still was a member of the BJP and would continue to be one.
He described the contest as a fight between the “real and fake” BJP. He claimed that the party’s official candidate represented the “fake” BJP, while he and his supporters were the “real” BJP, having been associated with the party for a long time and working diligently for its cause.
Khajuria clarified that his fight was not against the BJP, but against the candidate fielded by the party.
On the other hand, Sharma said he had worked for nearly 50 years with the BJP. Criticising the party, Sharma said the BJP had done nothing for women and given only one ticket to a woman from Kishtwar. He claimed the BJP candidate would be defeated from the Jammu East seat.
