J&K govt removes BJP leader Hina Bhat as Khadi board head
The decision was issues on Monday night after the conclusion of a cabinet meeting headed by J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah held at Jammu
J&K’s government removed senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Hina Bhat as the head of the Kashmir Khadi and Village Industries Board (KVIB) and constituted a new board which will be headed by deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary who is also J&K’s industries minister.

The decision was issues on Monday night after the conclusion of a cabinet meeting headed by J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah held at Jammu.
Hina Bhat, daughter of former Srinagar MP Mohammad Shafi Bhat, is the senior most BJP leader who has been heading the KVIB for the past one year. She had also contested assembly elections last year unsuccessfully on the BJP ticket.
The order issued by commissioner secretary MK Raju said that in supersession of all previous orders issued on the subject, the Board of Directors of Khadi and Village Industries Board is reconstituted. “Deputy chief minister and minister for industries and commerce department Surinder Kumar Choudhary has been appointed as the chairman of the board. Administrative secretary finance, administrative secretary rural development and panchayati raj department, administrative secretary industries and commerce department, registrar cooperative societies, J&K, director general (Codes), finance department, director MSME DL, J&K, director industries and commerce, Jammu, mission director rural livelihood mission J&K and director industries and commerce Kashmir have been appointed as directors of the board,” reads the order.
Hina Bhat is the first BJP leader who was removed as head of one of the two boards in J&K. Now all eyes are on the fate of Dr Darakshan Andrabi who heads the J&K Waqf Board which is one of the powerful boards in J&K.
After these two leaders were left untouched till now, many were seeing this as National Conference’s tactic to keep BJP central leadership in a good humour. After J&K CM Omar’s recent praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while they shared the stage at the opening of Z Morh tunnel, many opposition leaders blamed Omar for allying with the BJP. However, removal of senior BJP leader is seen by many as a message by the National Conference to its core constituency that the party isn’t coming close to BJP.
The BJP is yet to react on the removal of Hina Bhat as head of KVIB.
