Mayor Post: To garner support, Sheikh Imran ‘calls’ on BJP leader

SRINAGAR — Controversial former Deputy Mayor, Sheikh Imran on Monday called on J&K BJP General Secretary Ashok Koul at his Srinagar residence, apparently to garner support for him being elected as Srinagar Mayor.

However, it was not immediately known what actually was the purpose of the meeting and what transpired between them.

Sources privy to meeting said that Imran parked his vehicle several meters away from the residence of BJP leader in an effort to get unnoticed from entering the residence of BJP leader.

Sheikh Imran, however, claimed that he did not meet J&K BJP General Secretary Ashok Koul. He said he was on Gulistan News channel and did not meet any BJP leader.

“It is wrong. I did not meet any BJP leader as has been reported. I was busy on Gulistan channel,” he said.

Pertinently, Imran had been spilling beans against BJP and had also prefixed name Mujahid to counter the prefix Chowkidar taken by several BJP leaders. But soon after being elected as deputy mayor, he dropped the prefix.

In his several videos on social media, he had also attacked former Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu, calling him “BJP man, RSS agent.”

Sources said that Imran was seeking help from BJP to get mayoral post. However, things are not working in his favour.

On 23 December 2019, Deputy Mayor Sheikh Imran was removed from the post after he lost the floor test, with majority of Councilors voting against him.

On 16 June 2019, the Anti-Corruption Bureau registered a case against him for allegedly misappropriating crores of rupees from the public exchequer.