Former J&K deputy CM Kavinder Gupta appointed Ladakh's LG
The strategic Himalayan region shared it's borders with Pakistan and China.
Gupta, 65, expressed gratitude to the President Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and the party leadership for reposing their faith in him.
'This is a big responsibility entrusted upon me. I will serve the people of Ladakh and try to come up to their expectations,' he told media. 'Ladakh was part of Jammu and Kashmir but there are several challenges after it became a UT,' he said.
Gupta, who started off as a RSS worker, assured that he will take local populace along. 'Ladakh is a border region and I will try to shoulder all responsibilities while taking on board the administration and local people,' he said.
Gupta informed that on Saturday he received a call from the Prime Minister, who asked him about the new responsibility. 'I gave my consent to the PM,' he said, adding that for the first time anyone from Jammu would be heading Ladakh as LG.
In 2014, Gupta was elected as MLA from the Gandhi Nagar assembly constituency. He became the first speaker from BJP in the J&K Assembly, where he served from March 2015 to April 2018. In April 2018, Gupta became deputy CM in the PDP–BJP coalition headed by then chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.
'Now, new responsibility has been given to me and I will try to live up to the expectations of the people,' he said.
Recalling his earlier days, Gupta said that he had no political background. 'My father was an employee. I remained a student leader and worked for the youth,' he said.
The change of guard comes at a time when Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance were spearheading a protracted agitation demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule to the region.
Reacting to the development, president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association, co-chairman of the Leh Apex Body and former minister, Chering Dorje Lakrook said, 'I personally know him as we worked in the same government. However, people of Ladakh don't know much about him and they asked me about him.'
'Let's see how he runs the administration here. We have to see how he grasped the issues and problems of the people of Ladakh. It will be too early to make a comment,' he said.
3 time mayor, Gupta, joined RSS when he was 13 years old
Gupta, born on December 2, 1959, joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at age of 13. He is a graduate and has three children. He served three consecutive terms as mayor from 2005 to 2010. After which he served as an MLA, assembly speaker and former deputy chief minister of J&K.
In Punjab also he served as state secretary of ABVP for three years.
His father, an employee in the postal and telegraph department, was posted at various places, including Gurdaspur and later Srinagar.
A native of Smailpur village in Samba district, Kavinder Gupta officially joined the BJP in 1988.
In the 2002 and 2008 Assembly elections, Gupta was initially given the BJP mandate from the Jammu West assembly segment, but the party changed its candidates at the last minute.
In the 2014 assembly polls, he was shifted to the Gandhi Nagar assembly segment in Jammu city—then considered a Congress stronghold—where he defeated senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla.
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