Madhav’s ‘soft approach’ for PDP riles BJP leaders

JAMMU: After receiving ‘disturbing’ response about the functioning of party ministers in the coalition, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav this morning held a series of meetings with representatives of some offshoots of the sangh parivar to get their feedback.

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 17

After receiving ‘disturbing’ response about the functioning of party ministers in the coalition, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav this morning held a series of meetings with representatives of some offshoots of the sangh parivar to get their feedback.

Apart from that, many BJP legislators individually met Madhav to clear some ‘mis-conceptions’ created due to the one-sided feedback received by the party high command about the controversial decisions taken by the coalition partner PDP.

Highly-placed sources said on the second day of his visit to Jammu, Ram Madhav met some leaders of the sangh parivar to discuss the prevailing situation in the state in general and Jammu province in particular. “Before leaving for Delhi, Madhav held discussions with the sangh leadership to know their opinion about contentious issues like the Hiranagar murder, the alleged attempt of the PDP leadership to change demography of Jammu region and the brewing unrest among residents of Nowshera, Kalakote and Sunderbani,” a source said, adding, “Before winding up his visit, Madhav again met Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and state president Sat Sharma”.

A BJP legislator, who wished not to be quoted, told The Tribune that Madhav’s two-day visit was a “futile exercise” as he came with the mindset to stifle dissenting voices. “In the beginning of his meeting with party legislators, Madhav gave a judgmental statement by giving a clean chit to the PDP on all controversial decisions. So, the meeting was just a cosmetic exercise,” he said.

Sources said BJP legislators individually met Ram Madhav late Friday evening to present the real picture before him. “Some legislators tried to inform Madhav that the feedback he had received from the PDP leadership was one-sided so he had to listen to his own party legislators before arriving at any conclusion on contentious issues,” the sources added.

Another party legislator said on the condition of anonymity that the central leadership in Delhi was not aware of the ground situation in Jammu where peoples’ anger was brewing against the party.