Against the backdrop of former Kashmiri separatist leader Sajjad lone’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, the BJP is set to make a determined bid to change the contours of politics in Jammu & Kashmir by engaging with “new elements” in the State in the coming Assembly polls and make its campaign “development driven.”
The party may contest around 60 seats in the State and leave around two dozen seats for ex-separatists and others without any formal pre-poll alliance with them.BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, on a two-day visit to the State, said in Srinagar on Tuesday that his party would field at least 60 candidates in the five-phased Assembly elections, with development being the focus of its campaign.
“By the last phase of elections in the State, we will contest 60 seats,” he said.The party has so far declared 72 candidates out of a total of 87 seats in the State Assembly, of which 20 are Muslims. If the BJP confines itself to contesting 60 seats, the remaining candidates will have to be withdrawn.
While the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) have been the two major players in Jammu & Kashmir politics, the smaller parties, which have come together as a ‘third front’ this year, may play a decisive role in the formation of the next Government in the State. The BJP is expected to have unofficial tie-ups with parties, groups or Independents other than the two mainstream parties, sources said.
The BJP is trying to rope in “nationalist candidates” who are in agreement with the Prime Minister’s development plank. lone’s effusive praise of the Prime Minister after his meeting with him on Monday gives a broad hint of the BJP’s new approach to the Kashmir Valley.
“Our effort and goal is to rid Jammu & Kashmir of the dynastic rule of the NC and PDP,” Madhav told reporters in Srinagar on a visit “to gear up party workers for the Assembly elections.”
He said the BJP is confident of getting 55 plus seats in the elections to form the Government on its own strength. “We are contesting elections on our own strength. We hope to win maximum seats. The talks on alliance will be after the polls,” he said.Madhav has been paying special attention to Jammu & Kashmir along with another general secretary JP Nadda, election in-charge of the State.Madhav parried questions on the BJP’s stand on Article 370. “We will come out with our manifesto where you will get all your answers,” he said.
Asked whether BJP has modified its earlier position to propose a Hindu Chief Minister for Jammu & Kashmir, Madhav said that the discussion on Hindu or Muslim Chief Minister was the creation of the media. “It does not matter whether the Chief Minister is a Hindu or a Muslim. The Chief Minister will be a legislator from Jammu & Kashmir,” he said.
On lone’s meeting with the PM he said that lone discussed the developmental issues confronting Jammu & Kashmir. “The PM is giving importance to the Valley. We have to rehabilitate the people post floods and work towards development,” he said.Madhav denied that he met Mirwaiz Umar Farooq during his earlier visit to Kashmir but he insisted that separatists must call upon Modi whose “doors are always open”. “The path of separatism will lead to Pakistani Prime Minister or Pakistani High Commissioner. Instead, the separatists must join the mainstream. The doors of our Prime Minister are open for them”, he said.
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