BJP issues notice to J&K vice-chief for ‘anti-party’ activities

The notice was issued on Monday from the Jammu office. Sufi, however, said he hadn’t received any notice but heard that he had been issued notice from the party’s high command

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued a show-cause notice to one of its senior vice-presidents in J&K Sufi Yusuf for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities. Yusuf has been asked to respond to the notice within seven days.

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The notice was issued on Monday from the Jammu office. Sufi, however, said he hadn’t received any notice but heard that he had been issued notice from the party’s high command.

BJP state spokesman Altaf Thakur confirmed that notice has been issued to the senior vice president.

“Yes, a show cause notice has been issued to Sufi Yusuf,” he said. Thakur, however, refused to share the contents of the notice. Sufi Yusuf is one of the founding members of the BJP and joined the national party in 1997. He was the only former Muslim legislator of the BJP in Kashmir after he was elected to the legislative assembly in the erstwhile state.

Hailing from south Kashmir’s Anantnag district Sufi unsuccessfully contested several elections on the BJP ticket. He was one of the senior members of the party who has held several meetings against some leaders of the party, which sources said hasn’t gone down well within the party leadership. For the past several months, there has been a disquiet in BJP’s Kashmir unit, the party had replaced three prominent office bearers who were “calling shots” in Kashmir last month. Sufi Yusuf said he will respond to the notice once he gets it. “Even if all posts are taken from me. I will still be part of the BJP as we have laid the foundation of the national party in Kashmir,” he said.

Last month, dozens of the BJP leaders held a meeting in a Srinagar hotel to convey their displeasure with the party leadership and even refused to meet party president Ravinder Raina. However, the leaders later met

Raina and put forth demands, including “reining” in some leaders who were from Jammu and were running affairs in Kashmir.