A two-day visit to the valley, Union Home Minister Amit Shah On Thursday evening, he met a group of members of various communities and BJP leaders in Srinagar.
According to sources, Prime Minister Shah has asked the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership to begin preparations for parliamentary elections, saying the party will contest all seats in Jammu and Kashmir. The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to conduct assembly polls in the UT by September this year.
Immediately after arriving in Srinagar, he met several delegations from various communities including Gujjars, Bakarwals, Paharis and Sikhs.
After meeting the delegation, Shah met with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders at a hotel in Srinagar. Sources said Shah stressed the need to end “dynastic rule” in Jammu and Kashmir and urged party leaders to ensure maximum number of people vote against the National Conference, People’s Democratic Party and Congress. .
Mainstream political leaders in the valley are raising concerns about the purpose of Shah’s visit to Kashmir, especially at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party is not directly contesting seats in the valley amid Lok Sabha elections.
“Isn’t it strange that the Secretary of the Interior would leave his campaign and come to a place where no elections are being held for two days?” said North Carolina Chief Omar Abdullah. spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a campaign rally. Bandipore. “Perhaps they know that Agha Ruhra (NC candidate from Srinagar) has already won the Srinagar seat and is now trying to damage the National Conference’s prospects,” he said. Stated.
Senior PDP leader and former minister Naeem Akhtar also expressed surprise at Shah’s visit to the valley. “How dare you visit Kashmir, where the party is not fielding a candidate during an important election! I hope everything goes well,” Akhtar wrote on X.
Officials said members of the Pahari community delegation expressed their gratitude to the Home Minister for granting them Scheduled Tribe status. They said the Gujjar leaders had expressed reservations about the ST status to the Pahari community but were assured that it would not affect their interests in any way.
A delegation from the Sikh community also met the Home Minister and sought an employment package on what Kashmiri migrant Pandits would get.
© Indian Express Private Limited
Date first uploaded: May 17, 2024, 06:08 IST
