BJP is supporting ex-Mayor Mattu, party’s corporator says

SRINAGAR — Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is extending its support to the former Mayor, Junaid Azim Mattu, Nazir Gilkar said on Monday.

Nazir Gilkar, the BJP corporator said, “BJP has nine corporators and our vote will go to Junaid Azim Mattu”.

With this, all the allegations levelled against the deputy Mayor, Sheikh Mohammad Imran have come out purported, supporters of Imran say. “It has become clear that Mattu is a BJP man in Kashmir,” they said.

“Former deputy Mayor, Sheikh Mohammad Imran was called a ‘BJP proxy candidate’ but BJP’s support to the ex-Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu has revealed who is the real BJP man in Kashmir,” a supporter of Sheikh Imran said.

Pertinently, Junaid Mattu in one of his speeches, after becoming Mayor, had said, “BJP is a reality. We can’t separate ourselves from BJP. We are part and parcel of BJP”.

The last Governor of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik, had stoked a controversy when he said that a foreign-educated youth would be the new Mayor of Srinagar.

BJP has openly supported Junaid Azim Mattu in 2018 in making him the Mayor of Srinagar. However, BJP councillors voted against Mattu in a vote of no-confidence motion on June 16.

While speaking to the media, Waheed Dar, a councillor from Zakura said, “It is the time for all the councillors to come together and kill the menace of corruption and whosoever is supporting Junaid Mattu is trying to conceal his scandals and scams. We are inviting all the councillors irrespective of the party lines to support Sheikh Mohammad Imran in the election on July 16.”

“In our religion, corruption is a big sin. We are making efforts along with the support of like-minded councillors to make SMC corruption-free,” he added.

He further added that BJP’s support to the former Mayor has revealed that Junaid Mattu is the BJP man in Kashmir.