Ankit Love Expels Vilakshan Singh from Panthers Party, Alleges BJP Secret Agent
Power Struggle in Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party: Vilakshan Singh Expelled
Jammu, 17-05-2023: The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) is currently in the midst of a power struggle, with President Vilakshan Singh being expelled from the party by its chief patron Ankit Love. Love, who is based in London and the only son of the party’s founder, Bhim Singh, accused Vilakshan of being a “secret agent” of the BJP. Vilakshan was appointed president of the JKNPP after Bhim Singh’s death in June 2022, and Ankit is his cousin.
The party released a statement saying that Ankit has been “firmly accusing Vilakshan Singh of being a BJP secret agent”. Ankit also accused Vilakshan of theft of properties worth crores of rupees belonging to his parents. He claimed that FIRs have been filed against Vilakshan with the police, and that he had planned to form an alliance with the BJP in exchange for illicit payments with the secret promise to give the BJP coalition support in exchange. Ankit demanded a thorough investigation into these allegations.
Ankit’s mother Jay Mala, who was a co-founder of the JKNPP, recently passed away, and Ankit arrived in Jammu on May 5 to perform her last rites. Ankit was allowed to come to India after his name was removed from a blacklist on submitting an apology to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for participating in an anti-government protest in London last year.
The JKNPP has been in disarray since Bhim Singh’s death, with the family engaged in a tussle to take control of the party. Earlier, Ankit had accused Vilakshan of failing in his responsibility of arranging better security, supervision, and safe accommodation for his mother, who died after falling from stairs on April 26.
Before Bhim Singh’s death, two of his nephews, former minister Harsh Dev Singh and former legislator Balwant Singh Mankotia, resigned from JKNPP along with many other senior leaders to join the Aam Aadmi Party. Mankotia later joined the BJP, while Harsh Dev Singh recently returned to the JKNPP and claimed to have been elected as party president. However, Vilakshan and PK Ganjoo, a close aide of Bhim Singh, contested Harsh Dev Singh’s claim and asserted that Vilakshan was the party president and Ganjoo its working president. However, Ganjoo joined Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Democratic Progressive Azad Party on May 6.
