Ram Madhav discusses Kashmir unrest with guv
PARLEYS Meetings held in wake of controversial comment by BJP minister on stonepelters
JAMMU: A couple of days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the Kashmir situation with senior ministers, and amid a controversial comment by state BJP minister Chander Prakash Ganga on stone-pelters in the Valley, the party’s national general secretary Ram Madhav made an impromptu visit to Jammu on Friday.
He discussed the situation in closed-door meetings with governor NN Vohra, finance minister Haseeb Drabu of the PDP , and director general of police SP Vaid.
Even as state BJP president Sat Sharma maintained that Madhav visited the winter capital in view of a forthcoming visit of party president Amit Shah on April 29 and 30, a senior BJP leader told Hindustan Times, “The PDP-BJP government is facing a real tough phase in turbulent Kashmir, and Ganga’s video clip has added fuel to the fire. Therefore, Drabu and Madhav discussed the situation in Kashmir at a meeting which lasted an hour and a half this morning.”
After Drabu, he met DGP Vaid while deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh also had a brief meeting in the morning.
BJP leaders Avinash Rai Khanna and Satpal Sharma were also among those who attended the meeting. Stone-pelting incidents have increased manifold in the region since the PDP-BJP alliance came to power in 2015. Most recently, eight people were killed in clashes with security forces during the Srinagar parliamentary bypoll on April 9, prompting the Election Commission to postpone the Anantnag bypoll to May 25. Earlier in the day, Khanna, who is BJP’s J&K in-charge, said, “He (Madhav) has come and Kashmir situation is being discussed. A programme is also being finalised for the twoday visit of party president (Shah).” A Raj Bhawan spokesperson said, “BJP national general secretary discussed security environment related issues with the governor and the initiatives under consideration for hastening the developmental process and promoting peace and normalcy.”
CABINET REJIG AHEAD
Sources said Madhav, who met senior office-bearers of the party too, also discussed an upcoming reshuffle of portfolios in the BJP, cross-voting by Zanskar MLA Syed Baqir Rizvi in the legislative council elections, and the Anantnag LS bypoll rescheduled for May 25. As per the coalition agreement, the BJP and PDP had to share two seats each in the council polls, but PDP rebel independent candidate Rizvi from Zanskar voted in favour of BJP candidate Vikram Randhawa, which equalled his votes with the PDP candidate; and Randhawa subsequently won via lottery.
It is learnt that BJP’s “betrayal” at the Council polls was also taken up by the finance minister.
“The BJP did not obey the ‘coalition dharma’, and the PDP now wants to get the seat of the assembly speaker in the reshuffle,” sources in the PDP said.
REGRET REMARKS, WAS MISINTERPRETED, SAYS GANGA
JAMMU:Meanwhile, Chander Prakash Ganga on Friday expressed regrets on his comments. “If anyone is hurt by my statement, I express regret over it,” he said in a video statement. On Thursday, speaking to Hindustan Times over phone, Ganga, BJP MLA from Vijaypur, had said, “The video which has gone viral on social sites has been doctored. I had said the enemies of the country, either from Pakistan or internal, should be dealt with sternly and for them bullet for bullet should be the approach. I had spoken about Farooq Abdullah, who termed stonethrowers as nationalist. The video is doctored.”
The BJP leader further added that his statement was twisted out of context. “It is quite unfortunate that the statement is being misinterpreted and misrepresented,” he said, and added “My entire focus was targeted at the National Conference which had made a statement on the issue (of stone-pelting).”