Be ready for polls, Madhav tells cadre

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 28

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Ram Madhav on Friday told party workers to be prepared for elections in Jammu and Kashmir. He also termed the ‘Gupkar declaration’ a ‘drama’ while adding that there was no chance of rollback of the Centre’s decision to revoke Article 370.

Madhav, who was on a two-day visit to the Valley, held rounds of closed-door meetings with the party cadre and the discussions mainly remained centered around the emerging political scenario in J&K besides the security issues of the party.

“The main message we got is that we have to be prepared for elections in the UT. He (Madhav) told us that you do not have to think that elections will be held after months or years….he told us that we have to work hard as if elections will be held tomorrow,” BJP media incharge Manzoor Bhat told The Tribune.

He said Madhav also told them that the ‘Gupkar declaration’ was being floated just to befool the people yet again. “Regarding the political developments, he said the ‘Gupkar declaration’ is nothing but a drama and the National Conference (NC) was again trying to befool the people. He said the people do not care about them (NC) anymore. They (NC) want to come back but they cannot. On their clamour to bring back Article 370, Ram Madhav said the clock cannot move backwards,” said Bhat.

Madhav had arrived here days after six main political parties, including the National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress, announced that they stood by the ‘Gupkar declaration’ and will jointly fight for the restoration of Article 370. The declaration had been passed at the Gupkar residence of NC president Farooq Abdullah on August 4 last year.