Balwant Singh Mankotia joins BJP
Delhi: Balwant Singh Mankotia, a two-time MLA from Panthers Party of Jammu and Kashmir, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday. Mankotia joined the BJP at the party headquarters here in the presence of Union ministers Jitendra Singh and Rajeev Chandrashekhar, general secretary and in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir Tarun Chugh and BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit president Ravindra Raina. Let us inform that Mankotia, who was a two-time MLA from Udhampur Assembly constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, has also been the President of the Panthers Party.
Was separated from the party due to differences
Mankotia, a two-time MLA from the Udhampur assembly constituency, was seen as the heir to Panthers Party founder Bhim Singh. Mankotia had parted ways with the Panthers party about a year and a half ago due to infighting after Singh’s death. After this he joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Recently, he was expelled by the Aam Aadmi Party on charges of anti-party activities. On this occasion, Jitendra Singh described Mankotia as a young and struggling leader and said that his arrival would further strengthen the BJP’s position in Jammu and Kashmir. Chugh said that Mankotia was deeply influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hence decided to join the BJP.
Mankotia gave two main reasons for joining BJP
Mankotia said that there are many reasons for joining the BJP, but there were two main reasons for this. “The BJP has declared a holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh. This was a very old demand. This demand was not because he was the king, it was because of his foresight that Jammu and Kashmir merged with India and we became Indians. The second reason is that the founder of the Panthers Party, Bhim Singh was an advocate of united Jammu and Kashmir (including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) and he made a lot of efforts for this too.