Jammu,
Since the formation of the BJP-PDP government in J&K on March 1, 2015, only three ministers in the saffron party Cabinet have remained unchanged, besides being elevated during reshuffling and expansions over the last three years. However, seven BJP ministers were dropped and replaced.

Chering Dorjay, Minister for Cooperatives and Ladakh Affairs; Abdul Ghani Kohli, Minister for Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries; and Sunil Kumar Sharma, Minister for Power Development; are the three BJP Cabinet ministers who remained unmoved in the ministry.

All three had joined the coalition as Ministers of State but later, were elevated to the Cabinet rank with Sunil Sharma joining in lately.

However, in three years of governance, the positions of all other BJP ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister, have been replaced.

During Mehbooba Mufti’s swearing-in ceremony as the Chief Minister on April 4, 2016, the BJP dropped two of its ministers, viz. Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Sukhnandan Kumar and Minister of State Pawan Gupta. Though the reason for dropping the two ministers was not specified, it was however termed as ‘party decision’.

Of late, when the Kathua rape-and-murder case took place, the BJP high command once again came into action and asked for the resignation of its two Cabinet ministers, viz. Forest Minister Lal Singh and Industries and Commerce Minister Chander Prakash Ganga.

Ram Madhav , in charge, J&K, earlier said that the ‘party reserves the right to take resignations of ministers’ and term it as its own decision on ‘moral grounds’ for having gone to the Kathua rally, but later defended them with a ‘clean chit’.

Immediately after this, BJP state president Satpal Sharma got the directions to take the resignations of all BJP ministers, except the then Deputy Chief Minister, Nirmal Singh, for a reshuffle. Later, the Deputy CM was also asked to resign, replacing him with Kavinder Gupta along with Bali Bhagat, the then Health and Medical Education Minister, and the only woman Minister of State Priya Sethi, too, relieving them all of their respective positions in the government .

During this exercise spanning three years, seven BJP ministers have been dropped and replaced with new ones while just three remained unchanged.