- विज्ञापन -
Srinagar: Kavinder Gupta, a senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was sworn in as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh on Friday. The oath-taking ceremony was conducted by Justice Arun Palli, the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, in Leh.
The event was attended by CEOs of the Leh and Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Councils, Ladakh MP Haji Mohmad Haneefa Jan, along with the chief secretary, DGP, administrative officials, and other dignitaries at the Raj Niwas in Leh. Gupta was appointed to the position by President Droupadi Murmu, following the resignation of Brig (Retd) Dr. B.D. Mishra, who had been serving as Ladakh’s Lieutenant Governor since February 2023.
Gupta’s appointment comes ahead of upcoming discussions between the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ladakh leaders, who are demanding 6th Schedule status, statehood with a legislative assembly, and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts. He is the third person to hold the position of Lieutenant Governor in Ladakh since it was established as a separate Union Territory from Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Gupta previously served as Deputy Chief Minister in 2018 under the PDP-BJP coalition, and has also held positions as Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and Mayor of Jammu. At 65, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at age 13 and was jailed for thirteen months during the Emergency period. He also served as secretary of the Punjab unit of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) from 1978-79 and led the Jammu and Kashmir unit of Bharatiya Yuva Morcha from 1993 to 1998.
He was elected mayor of Jammu for three consecutive terms from 2005 to 2010. In the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections, Gupta was elected from Gandhinagar, defeating incumbent Raman Bhalla of the Indian National Congress. He was chosen as Assembly Speaker in 2015, becoming the first BJP leader to hold that position.
In 2018, Gupta was appointed Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir following a cabinet reshuffle, succeeding Nirmal Kumar Singh. However, he resigned from that post in June 2018 after the BJP withdrew from its alliance with the PDP.
