Madhav to visit Valley today, chair BJP meet

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 26

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Ram Madhav is arriving here tomorrow to chair a party meeting amid the raking of the ‘Gupkar declaration’ by the regional parties and security issues faced by the Valley-based ground workers.

“There will be a meeting soon after his (Ram Madhav’s) arrival. He will take feedback from the cadre on the prevailing situation and we are also expecting discussions on security issues of BJP workers. The party is also keen to restart the political activities in the Union Territory and how to go about the process,” BJP media incharge Manzoor Bhat told The Tribune.

Earlier on July 12, Madhav along with MoS PMO Jitender Singh, BJP national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna and party J&K president Ravinder Raina had visited Bandipora in north Kashmir to condole the families of three party workers killed by militants. In the recent past, several other BJP workers, too, have been attacked by the militants, following which the party has been demanding security for the cadre.

Madhav, who had previously played a key role in the formation of the BJP-PDP coalition, is expected to take stock of the situation on ground after six main political parties, including the National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress, had on August 22 announced that they stood by the ‘Gupkar declaration’ and will jointly fight for the restoration of Article 370.

During his first visit here in October last year after the abrogation of Article 370, Madhav had maintained that the regional parties would only be allowed to do ‘routine politics’ like seeking restoration of statehood to J&K.