Shah arrives today, LS polls on agenda

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 22

BJP national president Amit Shah will arrive in Jammu tomorrow morning for his two-day visit to the state to review the party’s preparations for the parliamentary elections scheduled to be held next year.

It will be his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the BJP withdrew support to its alliance partner PDP on June 19, prompting Mehbooba Mufti to resign as Chief Minister of the state. The state has been placed under Governor’s rule since June 20.

“Shah is scheduled to reach Jammu by 9.30 am. A motorbike rally will be held in his honour from the airport till the state guest house, where he will hold back-to-back meetings with party leaders to assess the working of the organisation. He will address a public rally at Parade Ground Chowk at 4 pm,” a senior party leader said, adding that he will leave for New Delhi on Sunday morning.

“The BJP president is visiting Jammu to review the work of the organisation but he will also chair a meeting of various election committees of the party to discuss the issues for the next election. Definitely, Lok Sabha elections and the party’s preparedness would be on the agenda of discussions scheduled for tomorrow,” the party leader said.

Shah will also pay homage to the founder member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, on his martyrdom day. He would also address a seminar to be organised by the Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Foundation. Shyama Prasad had died under mysterious circumstances in a Srinagar jail on June 23, 1953. He was arrested by the then state government headed by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on May 11, 1953, for entering J&K without permit. He was arrested from Lakhanpur and later shifted to the Srinagar jail, where he died.

Suresh Ajay Magotra, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) state president, said they were geared up for a massive motorbike rally tomorrow. “The party president will be given a grand reception at Jammu airport by BJYM activists. It is a proud moment for us that he is visiting Jammu for the second time in less than a year’s time,” he added.

Aiming to reap political benefits

• The BJP insiders said the party leadership has deliberately chosen June 23, the death anniversary of founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh  Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, for Amit Shah’s visit to Jammu because it wants to give a clear message at the national level that abrogation of Article 370 is still its core agenda and it has not “compromised” on its ideology. 
• By giving an impression that the party has returned to its core agenda of abrogation of Article 370 after dumping the PDP, the saffron party is trying to reap political benefits by exploiting the sentiments of the people of the Jammu region, sources said.