BJP ready for joint polls: Madhav

Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 20

Ruling out chances of a pre-poll alliance, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday said the party was ready for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.

Interacting with mediapersons, Madhav, who is the party’s point-man in the state, strongly denied reports that the BJP was against holding the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections jointly. 

“The BJP is in favour of simultaneous elections. Rather some other political groups are creating hurdles to delay the Assembly elections in J&K,” he said without naming any party. Madhav said his party would contest the elections on all Assembly and  Lok Sabha seats.  

“We are fully prepared for the elections and committed to give a popular government,” he said. Madhav said the BJP would contest on all seats by taking other parties into confidence to give a stable government to the people but the chances of a pre-poll alliance were “less”.

“The chances of a pre-poll alliance are bleak. We will field our candidates on all seats in the state,” he said, adding that the party had no reservation in taking other parties along.

On a question whether People’s Conference head Sajad Lone was still an ally of the BJP, Madhav said, “when we had contested the elections in 2104, any pre-poll alliance was not announced but we formed a coalition government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) depending upon the circumstances.”

On Kashmiri Pandits, he said, “We have a roadmap for their rehabilitation. We plan to build townships in Kashmir but due to some reasons, the programme could not be carried forward.”

'PDP scuttled development' 

Ram Madhav, who was an architect of the previous PDP-BJP alliance in J&K, admitted that the PDP had created hurdles in accelerating developmental activities in the Jammu region. He referred to an inordinate delay in laying the foundation stone of AIIMS, sanctioned in May 2015 for Jammu. 

Udhampur ex-MLA, others join BJP

Former MLA from Udhampur Pawan Gupta, ex-MLA from Reasi Baldev Raj Sharma, social workers Ashwani Chrungoo, Raman Suri and Raman Sharma joined the BJP. Terming the joining of Pawan Gupta and Baldev Raj Sharma as “ghar wapsi”, Madhav said their entry would strengthen the party.