In a major setback to the National Conference (NC), the party’s Jammu provincial president Devinder Singh Rana on Sunday resigned along with a former minister Surjeet Singh Salathia amidst speculations that both might join the BJP. Rana is the younger brother of Dr. Jitendra Singh who is the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Rana and Salathia took the flight for New Delhi immediately after submitting their resignation. When asked on mobile phone about his future plans, he said “I am in the aircraft”. There are speculations that both might join BJP in a day or two.

The NC has accepted the resignation of both party leaders without any fuss. Rana was in Jammu the most trusted man of Dr. Farooq Abdullah and also Omar Abdullah during whose chief ministership he was his political advisor.

Salathia was a cabinet minister in the Omar Abdullah ministry and held the important portfolio of the industry.

Confirming their resignation, the NC tweeted; “Dr. Farooq Abdullah has received & accepted the resignations of Mr. Salathia & Mr. Rana. No further action or comment is deemed necessary”.

Dr Farooq Abdullah has received & accepted the resignations of Mr Salathia & Mr Rana. No further action or comment is deemed necessary.

— JKNC (@JKNC_) October 10, 2021

Rumours were doing circles for the past few days that Rana and Salathia might quit the NC with which they had started their political innings and join BJP. However, both of them have yet to confirm if they were joining the BJP or some other political outfit.

Rana had recently hinted that he might “join some other outfit for the betterment of the Jammu region” as he felt “Kashmir-based parties have not done much for Jammu.”

He appealed to all political parties of the Jammu region, including the BJP, to unite and adopt a Jammu declaration to “safeguard the interests of the region in the manner the people of Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh rose above their political and religious affiliations to take a stand on issues concerning their region.”

Rana and Salathia are parting way with NC at this critical juncture when the delimitation commission was about to finalise its report and pave way for assembly elections in J&K is considered significant. Despite the extreme Modi wave in 2014, Rana retained the Hindu-dominated Nagrota assembly seat on NC ticket whereas Salathia failed to return from the Vijaypur constituency.

Rana holds the biggest dealership of Maruti vehicles in the J&K region with its branches in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.