Madhav meets Lone along with BJP leaders

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 27

The BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday met president of Peoples Conference Sajjad Lone, who has been an ally of the rightwing party in the PDP-BJP government in J&K.

Madhav had a half-an-hour meeting with Lone, who was accompanied by the state leadership of the BJP, at Taj Vivanta here.

The Madhav-Lone meeting comes after the BJP pulled out from the coalition government with the PDP in J&K.

Soon after the meeting Madhav shared a picture with the BJP leaders and Lone.

“With J&K former ministers of BJP n PC (Sajjad Lone) in Srinagar discussing about the roadmap for the state,” he tweeted.

Lone was social welfare minister in the PDP-BJP government and enjoyed a strong support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi had walked to Lone during his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir where the prime minister while holding his hand told him not to hide himself but take a front stage, a clear indication of giving him a greater role in J&K politics in coming months.

The meeting is also seen as part of the BJP’s plan to stitch up a possible post-poll alliance of smaller parties and free-floating politicians in the Kashmir Valley where the BJP has little presence.