Kavinder Gupta along with Mehbooba Mufti and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File)
Jammu and Kashmir's new
Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta began his government innings with a comment on the 8-year-old's rape and murder in Kathua that stirred a new controversy. He said the incident that has shaken the country was
a "minor" issue and said it should not be given much importance. "Rasana is a
chhoti si baat (minor issue)... We have to think this should never happen again and the child gets justice. There are many challenges like this facing the government. We should not give Rasana so much bhaav (importance)," Mr Gupta told reporters.
Mr Gupta, a long-time member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, the ideological mentor of the BJP,
replaced Nirmal Singh as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's number 2. He joined the BJP's ideological mentor RSS when he was 13. He was later a secretary of Vishva Hindu Parishad in Punjab and also headed the BJP's youth wing for two consecutive terms between 1993 and 1998.
Mr Gupta is a veteran in state politics and served three terms from 2005 and the mayor of Jammu. The 59-year-old has also been general secretary of the state's BJP unit. He was elected an MLA for the first time in 2014 from Gandhi Nagar seat where he defeated senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla.
After the BJP-PDP came together to form government in the state in the elections that year, Mr Gupta was elected as the speaker.
Mr Gupta was born on December 2, 1959 and has three children.