Senior PDP leader joins BJP in Jammu

Senior PDP leader and former legislator Faqir Mohammad Khan on Saturday joined the BJP here and said the people of Gurez along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir are very optimistic about the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Khan, who had won the assembly elections from Gurez constituency of Bandipora district in 1996 as an independent before joining the PDP, was welcomed into the party fold by Union Territory BJP president Ravinder Raina at the party headquarters here.

Khan was the zonal president of the PDP before resigning from the party.

Besides Khan, senior Congress activists from Arnas including Sansar Singh (sarpanch), Sunny Sharma (youth block president) and Umesh Singh and another activist Sunil Sharma from Reasi also joined the BJP.

"The people of Gurez are very optimistic about Modi's policies. Gurez lacked many amenities till now but we are sure that all our issues will be resolved by the BJP government," he said, claiming that BJP will win the Gurez seat in the Assembly election with great margin.

National Conference leader Nazir Ahmad Khan Gurezi was the last sitting MLA from the constituency, which he had won for three consecutive terms.

Hailing Khan's decision, Raina said, "Sheena tribe has always remained a patriotic community and the region will be developed aggressively now."