Former Panthers Party MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia Joins BJP

Balwant Singh Mankotia, a two-time MLA from the Pathers Party of Jammu and Kashmir, has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday. Mankotia has also been the President of the Panthers Party. Mankotia joined the BJP at the party headquarters here in the presence of Union ministers Jitendra Singh and Rajiv Chandrashekhar, general secretary and in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir Tarun Chugh and BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit president Ravindra Raina.

Mankotia, a two-time MLA from the Udhampur assembly constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, has also been the president of the Panthers party. He was seen as the heir to Panthers Party founder Bhim Singh. Mankotia broke away from the Panthers party about a year and a half ago due to infighting after Singh's death. After this he joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Recently, he was expelled by the Aam Aadmi Party on charges of anti-party activities.

On this occasion, Jitendra Singh described Mankotia as a young and struggling leader and said that with his arrival, the BJP's position in Jammu and Kashmir will be strengthened. Chugh said that Mankotia was deeply influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that is why he decided to join the BJP. Mankotia said that there are many reasons for joining the BJP, but there were two main reasons for this.

"The BJP has declared a holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh. This was a very old demand. This demand was not because he was the king, it was because because of his foresight, Jammu and Kashmir merged with India and we became Indians. The second reason is that the founder of Panthers Party, Bhim Singh was an advocate of united Jammu and Kashmir (including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) and he made a lot of efforts for this too.