Saffron party sees golden opportunity to make inroads in Kashmir Valley.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP president, Ravinder Raina has said that his party will contest in all the three regions of the state, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, in the municipal and panchayat elections. He said that the party has a golden opportunity to make inroads in Kashmir Valley by winning these elections. The BJP leadership has also condemned the statements of regional parties National Conference and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) about boycotting these polls.
After NC and PDP, the Congress has now asked the government to make its intentions clear about holding of these polls. Party’s state president Ghulam Ahmad Mir alleged that by making such announcements, the Governor’s administration is only testing the waters.
Upping the ante, NC president Farooq Abdullah recently presided over an all-party meeting at his residence here. Though PDP did not attend the meeting, they have already announced that they will stay away from these polls. PDP has said that they are with the sentiments of the people who have a feeling that the Central government is going to fiddle with Article 35A.
In the all-party meeting, two major demands came to the fore. Accusing Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta of “not defending” the sentiments of Kashmiris in the Supreme Court during hearing of the case challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A, the meeting appealed the Governor to ask Mehta not to represent the state government in the next hearing. The other demand is that the hearing of the case be delayed till the time a new government is elected in the state.
NC leader Omar Abdullah told reporters that the intentions of the Central government became doubtful when they connected Article 35A with the deferment of the case. He said that most of the regional parties have decided not to participate in the elections. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has said that if the administration goes ahead with the polls, it would lack credibility as most of the political parties have already decided to boycott them.
Meanwhile, state Chief Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam told the media that all necessary steps have been taken to hold these elections as scheduled. On his instructions, new state DGP Dilbagh Singh held a top level meeting to update the government about the security scenario on the ground. To maintain security during the polls, 200 additional Central police companies are being deployed. Senior police officers have said that they are ready to provide security to all those candidates who want to contest the elections.