Setback to BJP as ex-legislator Surinder Choudhary quits party to join NC [details]

Ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections, BJP received a severe setback as party leader and former legislator Surinder Choudhary today resigned from the party and joined National Conference in the presence of former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

A mass base politician of the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, Surinder Choudhary a Jat leader, and this community is spread in the border belts from Kathua to Nowshera in Jammu province.

At the time BJP is trying to placate the Jat community which is annoyed after the farmers' agitation and protest by wrestlers, the resignation of Surinder Choudhary from the party is considered a jolt to the party, especially ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Former MLC Surinder Choudhary joined the National Conference here on Tuesday, ending over a year-long association with the BJP.

He had quit Peoples Democratic Party on March 30, 2021. One year after resigning from PDP, Choudhary had joined BJP in April 2022 in the presence of senior leaders including the party's national general secretary Tarun Chug, and Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina.

Charges J&K BJP president with patronizing his family members

Earlier in the day, Choudhary announced his decision to quit the BJP through a tweet while accusing the Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief of encouraging familism and corruption. Choudhary had lost to Raina in the Nowshera Assembly constituency of Rajouri district in the 2014 assembly polls.
"Goodbye BJP….Ravinder Raina enjoys your Parivharbad and corruption," Choudhary wrote on Twitter.

While addressing media persons, Choudhary vowed to expose corrupt practices by the family members of Ravinder Raina. "Just wait for a couple of days, and I will expose the self-proclaimed honest leader Ravinder Raina, whose family members have been brazenly indulged in corrupt practices", he alleged.

Choudhary is considered a powerful leader with considerable clout. He lost the 2014 election from the Nowshera seat by a very thin margin to BJP chief Ravinder Raina.

Bureaucrats stopping leaders from joining NC alleges Omar

Welcoming Choudhary and his supporters to the National Conference, the party's vice president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah accused the BJP is using state machinery to browbeat those who want to leave the party and join the NC.

"You cannot think of the pressure which was put on Choudhary to stop him from joining the National Conference. Officers who are supposed to serve the public are being used to put pressure on the BJP's opponents. I want to tell the officers that this is not your job and this administration is not going to stay forever," Omar Abdullah said while addressing a huge gathering on the occasion.

For the last couple of days, Surinder Choudhary was facing pressure from different quarters against joining the NC. "Even some officers threaten him against joining the NC", Omar accused.

He said Choudhary started his political career at the National Conference in 1995 and with his rejoining, the party will strengthen further at the grass-root level. The former MLC thanked the National Conference and pledged not to leave the party again.

He claimed that a leader of a regional party had decided to join the National Conference recently but was forced to give up succumbing to the pressure from the BJP even though he is not affiliated with the party.