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| BJP, Congress in double whammy | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Sep 4
As activity in the political circles gears up for the elections, the regional outfits –National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and the Panthers Party –are weighing the local options but the national parties –Congress and BJP –are looking at a wider perspective ahead of giving their mind to the Election Commission of India on the poll timing.
Even as the state units of Congress and BJP have said that the elections should be held in time, their parties at the national level are exploring options if Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections could be linked up with the general Lok Sabha elections. Both BJP and Congress, reports suggest, are the view of having the general elections by the end of this year instead of March-April next year when they are due.
At least five states -- Madhya Pradesh , Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Mizoram --will go for polls during November and December. Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are also due before November 20. However, in the wake of the current volatile situation arising out of the Amarnath land row, it is still unclear when the polls can take place in the state. A significant section of the Congress prefers to hold the General Election along with this series of assembly polls.
While the National Conference has authorized its patron Dr Farooq Abdullah to take a final call on the issue, the Congress unit has given its view to the PCC Chief Saif-ud-Din Soz who arrived in the town Wednesday to hold discussion on the issue. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary and the election in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, Arun Jaitley would be coming here on Sunday to review the post situation after two-month long agitation over Amarnath land row and also to hold party meetings to discuss policy matters for upcoming Assembly elections.
Close to this heels of Election Commission’s call on all political parties for consultation on September, 8 for holding of free and fair elections. All parties in the state have mobilized their workers to apprise the masses about their programme and policies.
The state congress president and water resource minister, Prof. Saif-ud-Din arrived in the winter capital and started holding discussion with his party colleagues. As per source Soz has said that his party is in favour of elections being held in time, and claimed that there was no cause of worry for the Congress. He said lot of development work has taken place during Ghulam Nabi Azad’s chief ministership, and added people have hailed the development work and as such Congress will campaign on this plank.
The state unit of BJP have also demanded that the elections be held before the expiry time. While talking to ET Correspondent, the senior party leader and former union minister Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta said, ‘ We are hopeful that centre would stand by their commitment of holding elections on time’. He said Congress may try to delay polls, because it has lost people’s support especially in Jammu region due to land row.
Senior JKNPP leader and former minister Harsh Dev Singh have also expressed that the elections be held well in time and panther party is ready to face the verdict.
National Conference as per source in a meeting held at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan today have authorized the party patron, Dr. Farooq Abdullah to give final nod, after consulting party leaders of Kashmir. The Jammu workers of the party are ready to face elections, the source said, and as such have asked its party cadres be ready. This reporter tried his best contact its provincial president for comments, but all efforts prove fruitless.
Darakshan Andrabi of SDP said that her party is ready for the elections, as people want change of guards, as the parties earlier have played with them for their personal benefits. Zaffar Akbar Bhat of Salvation movement, a Hurriyat Conference constituent said, his party is not in favour of elections, as party has separate agenda. We have nothing to do with the elections.
With regard to PDP’s reaction about elections, no leader was available for the comments. People belonging to various walk of life when contacted said, that the elections should be held in the state of Jammu and Kashmir as per schedule. |
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