Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief says new Governor Satya Pal Malik is ‘our man’

In a video that has emerged on social media, Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party chief Ravinder Raina is heard referring to newly appointed Governor Satya Pal Malik as “our man”. In the video, believed to be shot on Tuesday, Raina is heard telling a group of people that the party did not want to appoint former Governor NN Vohra to the post.

“We did not want to bring Vohra,” Raina says. “He used to boast about his own achievements. The governor who has come now, he is our man.”

The video was shot in Dak Bungalow in Sunderbani town of Rajouri district, The Indian Express reported. The daily quoted unidentified local residents and BJP members confirming Raina’s speech.

However, the BJP leader told The Indian Express that he had made the comment during a meeting with leaders from other parties who wanted him to take up the issue of utilisation of MLAs’ Constituency Development Fund. Raina claimed that by “he is our man”, he meant that Satya Pal Malik is “the governor of all people”.

“By saying so, I meant that he is the governor of all people, as he had restored the Constituency Development Fund of MLAs, and reversed the order of his predecessor restraining them from laying foundation stones of new works or inaugurating the completed ones,” Raina claimed.

Union minister Rajnath Singh disapproved of Raina’s comments, saying Vohra performed with constitutional dignity, reported PTI. “The governor’s post is a constitutional post, which has a limit,” Singh said. “NN Vohra has been the governor of Jammu and Kashmir for a long time. He has also had a long administrative experience. They have always followed constitutional limitations.”

The state BJP chief said National Conference MLA Javed Rana, Congress MLA Choudhary Akram and BJP MLC Pradeep Sharma attended the meeting. But Javed Rana told the newspaper that the governor’s appointment or role was not discussed during the meeting.