A day ahead of the first five-day session of the newly-elected J&K Assembly, the BJP high command on Sunday removed the state party chief Ravinder Raina and appointed Sat Sharma in his place.

Raina has been appointed as a member of the BJP Working Committee. He had lost the Assembly election from the Nowshera seat that he fought against Surinder Choudhary of the National Conference (NC) who is now the deputy chief minister of J&K.

Meanwhile, the BJP legislature party elected the party’s general secretary and MLA, Sunil Sharma, as the leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

Dr. Narinder Singh, MLA from Jammu-South, was chosen as the party’s candidate for the post of deputy speaker.

The strength of the BJP in the Assembly has reduced to 28 with the death of Devinder Singh Rana.

The legislature party meeting in Srinagar was presided over by Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Prahlad Joshi and BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh—who oversees the Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh regions.

Co-Incharge for Jammu and Kashmir Ashish Sood, BJP UT President Sat Sharma, Member of Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma, former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta, and former BJP President Ravinder Raina were among those who were present in the meeting.

Prahlad Joshi said the Legislative Party members have unanimously elected Sunil Sharma as the Leader of the Opposition for the Kashmir Assembly. We are committed to being a constructive opposition, addressing public issues, and contributing to the vision of Viksit Bharat under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi.

Meanwhile, the seniormost National Conference (NC) member Abdul Rahim Rather is set to be elected speaker of the Assembly.

The NC had earlier considered offering the post of deputy speaker to the BJP, but doubts are being expressed on the issue.

Election to the speaker is listed to be held at 10.30 am on Monday followed by the address of the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha at 11.30 am.

The house will make obituary references on Tuesday and discussion on the motion of thanks on the Lt. Governor’s address will be held in the next three days followed by the reply thereto.