| Poll preparations: After Farooq, Omar, Mehbooba starts Jammu’s tour | | Visits Poonch, Rajouri to retrieve lost ground | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 14: Amid reports that the Union Government is keen to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible, all mainstream political parties have kicked start preparations for the polls.
Within days after the visit of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti reached Poonch to hold interactions with the party cadre of twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
Instead of reaching Jammu to visit Poonch and Rajouri, Mehbooba Mufti initially adopted the Mugal Road track to enter twin border districts.
On day one of her visit, Mehbooba Mufti vociferously raked up the issue of job and land rights to retrieve the lost ground of PDP in this mountainous belt.
During the 2014 assembly elections, PDP had won Rajouri, Darhal, and Poonch seats. All PDP MLAs had already deserted the party to join Apni Party.
Mehbooba is also scheduled to visit Jammu, Samba, and Kathua districts.
BJP has already started election preparations with party leaders holding assembly-wise conventions. The President of the J&K unit of the party, Ravinder Raina is holding meetings in different areas of Jammu province. The ongoing phase two of the public outreach programme is also part of the party’s election preparations.
Buoyed over encouraging the success of party in District Development Councils (DDCs) elections, the National Conference has already started election campaign. Last week, Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah were in Jammu and they have given a clear signal to local leaders for elections.
As far as Congress is concerned, Rahul Gandhi’s back-to-back visits at Srinagar and Jammu were aimed at reviving the shattered confidence of the party cadre. Since its formation, the newly formed J&K Apni Party is in election mode with leadership trying to rope in mass base leaders of other parties. |
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