BJP ministers in J&K govt asked to resign, to be replaced with new faces

NEW DELHI: The Bhartiya Janta Praty (BJP) on Tuesday asked its ministers in Jammu and Kashmir government to submit their resignation as the party wants to reshuffle its ministers in the Mehbooba Mufti's cabinet.

According to the sources in the BJP, the decision was taken at a core group meeting, chaired by party's state vice president Avinash Rai Khanna, at the party headquarters.

"All BJP ministers have been directed to submit their resignations from the state council of ministers," the source said but clarified that this does not mean the withdrawal of support to the government.

"All BJP ministers have resigned ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle and this does not in any way mean the BJP has pulled out of the government," the source said.

Sources in the Peoples Democratic Party said the resignations of the BJP ministers is a prelude to the BJP's reconstitution of its part of the council of ministers without any bearing on the continuation in the coalition government in the state. The announcement came two days after two BJP ministers, Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, had tendered their resignations to the CM in the wake of protest following the gangrape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu's Kathua earlier this year.