370 abrogation move began in Nov 2018: BJP

Jammu, September 19

Revealing a ‘state secret’, BJP’s newly appointed national general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh has claimed that the process to abrogate Article 370, giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was started just after dissolution of the J&K Legislative Assembly in November 2018.

Santosh said this during a core group meeting of the state BJP late Wednesday. He argued Article 370 was abolished by the President by exercising power under Clause 1 (B) of Article 356 of the Constitution. “When President’s rule was imposed in J&K on December 19, 2018, Clause 1(B) of Article 356 was also incorporated to facilitate abrogation,” he claimed. “A group of 41 persons, including bureaucrats, were involved in the process,” a source quoting Santosh said. — TNS