BJP leadership gives mixed signals on joint elections

Dinesh Manhotra & Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 12

Uncertainty prevails over simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in J&K as BJP leaders are giving “confusing and conflicting” statements on the timing of the state polls.

BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday further added to the confusion on the timing of the Assembly elections. “There are ‘chances’ of Assembly elections in J&K along with the Lok Sabha polls,” Madhav said while kick-starting the ‘Mera Parivar, Bajpa Parivar’ programme.

Concluding his 10-minute speech, Madhav said “the Assembly elections in J&K may be held after or before Lok Sabha polls.”

On January 20, Madhav had asserted that the BJP was ready for simultaneous elections in J&K but the local BJP leadership was divided over holding the both elections at the same time.

Exhorting party workers to work assiduously, he said, “after the formation of the PDP-BJP coalition in J&K, a jinx has been removed that the BJP will never become part of any government in the state”. The BJP’s point-man in the state took credit for giving the divisional status to the Ladakh region. “Our former state ministers tried their best to address grievances of the people of Ladakh but could not do so due to some compulsions,” he clarified, adding, “In Governor’s rule, the long-pending demand of the residents of Ladakh has been fulfilled.” 

In his address, state BJP president Ravinder Raina called upon workers to dedicate themselves to ensure victory of the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Raina emphasised only on the parliamentary elections while announcing various programmes. 

Dalit leader of PDP joins BJP

Prominent PDP leader and former vice-chairperson of the Advisory Board for the Scheduled Castes Bhushan Dogra joined the BJP today.  A Dalit face of the PDP, Dogra was the runner-up from the border Assembly segment of RS Pura of Jammu district in the 2014 Assembly polls.   During the last one month, the BJP has inducted four MLAs into the party fold. Those who have joined the BJP included Pawan Gupta from Udhampur, Baldev Sharma from Reasi, Garu Ram Bhagat from RS Pura and Jagdish Sapolia from Basholi.

20 corporators join PDP

Twenty corporators of the municipal corporation joined  the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Srinagar on Tuesday. Welcoming them into the party fold, PDP vice-president Abdul Rahman Veeri termed their entry as a positive step towards strengthening of the party at the grass-roots level.

Madhav flays Rahul 

Hours after Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “treason”, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav charged the Congress leader with demonising constitutional institutions of the country for petty political gains. He hit back at Rahul for rejecting the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Rafale issue.