J&K advisory council to be formed soon

In spite of the opposition of dominant section of the local BJP leadership to it, the Centre may go ahead with its plan of forming an “advisory council” as a stopgap political arrangement in Jammu and Kashmir.

Reliable sources said that the Union government considers it indispensable to have a sort of task force comprising representatives of various political parties and groups of J&K which are not irreconcilable to its August 5, 2019 moves of scrapping Article 370 and splitting the state into two Union Territories. The proposed body would provide advice and assistance to the J&K administration headed by the Lieutenant Governor on issues of governance and matters of public interest.

“The Assembly elections are unlikely to be held in J&K till the completion of the delimitation process which began only recently and the redrawing of both Assembly and LoK Sabha constituencies. Till such time it is very important to have such a body as an alternative political front and also to advice the administration on various issues,” said a Central government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The ‘advisory council’ is likely to be headed by the recently launched J&K Apni Party chief Syed Altaf Bukhari, a former minister in the PDP-BJP government known for his close proximity to the corridors of power in New Delhi. He had, soon after forming his own party in March this year, declared himself as a “foot soldier” who wants to make “sincere effort” to resolve the array of problems confronting the people of J&K.

The ‘advisory council’, which may be announced anytime soon will have members drawn mainly from the BJP and Apni Party from each and every region and subregion of the Union Territory but the MHA is known to be trying hard to take key members of some other local political parties and groups such as Awami Itehad Party also on board.