Our agenda is delimitation, assembly polls, not Article 35 A: BJP
Srinagar: Trying to put all the speculations to rest about the abrogation of article 35 A J&K unit of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Monday said that its primary agenda in the Core Group Meeting scheduled to be held in Delhi on Tuesday will be to pitch hard for the delimitation of the assembly seats and to finalize a plan for upcoming Assembly polls in the State.
“As far as the Article 35-A is concerned, we don’t have this thing on our agenda as of now. We are going to attend the meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday to demand delimitation of Assembly seats in J&K as the existing structure is a major injustice with the people of entire State, especially Jammu and Ladakh,” BJP General Secretary (organization) Ashok Koul, said.
“The party leaders will pitch for immediate delimitation of Assembly seats in the State. We will also discuss the party’s preparedness and plans to be adopted for the Assembly elections in the State. This is what we have to discuss in the Core group and nothing else will be discussed there,” he said.
The Core Group Meet in Delhi assumes significance as it is taking place at a time when rumour mills are rife in the region that BJP led government at the Centre is seriously planning to scrap Article 35 A, that provides special citizenship rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and bars non-local residents from buying the land or any other property in the State.
Asked whether the party was prepared for the elections, Koul said the BJP was very much ready to face the polls and party will achieve its target as seen in the recently concluded Parliamentary elections.
The BJP swept polls in Jammu region by bagging both the seats and also lone seat of Ladakh region. In Kashmir all three seats were pocketed by the National Conference.
What added more to the rumour mills is the deployment of additional forces in Kashmir on the directions of Ministry of Home Affairs and the advisory issued by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to its men asking them to store ration and to park the vehicles of employees safely in the wake of inputs of possibility of deteriorating law and order scenario in Kashmir.
However, the police top brass refuted the order of RPF saying it carries no weight and people should not pay heed to such orders.
Meanwhile, sources said that Union minister Jitendra Singh, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, its state unit president Ravinder Raina and other senior leaders from the state will attend the meeting, which is likely to be chaired by party’s working president JP Nadda. Senior leaders including BJP general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh will also attend it.
Nadda will travel to the state in the coming days to oversee and tone up the party’s organisational work for the elections, the sources said.
Earlier, Madhav, who is the party’s pointsman for Jammu and Kashmir, had urged the EC to hold polls in the state this year.
Asked about the likely schedule of the assembly polls, a source said they may start from October and stretch to November. The polls were held in November-December in 2014.
Home Minister Amit Shah had asserted in Parliament that the Centre is prepared to hold polls once the Election Commission announces the schedule.
The poll panel had said on June 4 that it will announce the schedule after the Amarnath Yatra, which is concluding next month.
Jammu and Kashmir is currently under President’s Rule, which has been extended for one more term of six months beginning July 3. (with inputs from PTI, KNS)
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