Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Thupstan Chhewang, who represented Ladakh in the Lok Sabha, has resigned from the House and the party, the Jammu and Kashmir BJP unit president Ravinder Raina said on Thursday, November 15.
Chhewang, 71, has resigned to pursue a “spiritual life” and had also been suffering from health issues, Raina told PTI, insisting that his resignation is on personal grounds
The Ladakh MP, in his letter written on Wednesday, November 14, said he was resigning from the party’s primary membership on “health grounds” with immediate effect. He was also quitting as an MP, he added.
In the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP had faced a drubbing in the recently-held Urban Local Body elections. Out of the total 26 wards in the region, the Congress bagged all 13 seats in the Leh municipal committee, while also managing to win all five wards in neighbouring Kargil district, election officials said.
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Setback for BJP Numbers in Lok Sabha
Chhewang’s resignation adds to the list of MPs the BJP has lost in the last few days. On Monday, November 12, long-time BJP MP and parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar died after a prolonged battle with cancer. On Wednesday, November 14, Harish Chandra Meena, the BJP MP from Dausa, Rajasthan quit the party and joined the Congress.
Earlier this month, the BJP lost Mandya and Ballari constituencies in the Karnataka by-elections; Ballari was seen as a pocket borough of the party. The party was able to retain the Shivamogga contiuency.
With these developments, the BJP — that had won a bullish mandate of 282 seats to the Lok Sabha in the 2014 general elections — is down to 271 members (the Lok Sabha website lists 274 BJP MPs — it has not been updated to reflect resignations of Harish Chandra Meena and Thupstan Chhewang as well as the death of Ananth Kumar).
(With PTI Inputs)
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