The war of words between the BJP and the Congress over the latter’s pre-assembly poll alliance with the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, continued with the opposition party saying that the ruling party is in a state of panic.
With Jammu and Kashmir set to witness its first assembly polls in September after being reorganised into a Union Territory, NC president Farooq Abdullah had announced his party’s alliance with the Congress for all 90 assembly seats.
A day later, the BJP termed the pre-poll alliance “unholy” and asked the Congress whether it supports its ally’s agenda of “breaking India”. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Friday, accused the party of repeatedly risking the country’s unity and security in its greed for power. He also posted 10 questions for the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress, meanwhile, said that a panicked BJP is resorting to negative politics, and that the general sentiment in Jammu and Kashmir was against the BJP-led Union government.
“The BJP and its home minister are now pointing fingers at parties with whom they previously shared power in J&K and at the Centre,” J&K Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said. “The BJP and the home minister should first explain why they formed a government with the PDP, a party they now accuse of being far more problematic than the NC on these issues.”
Sharma also labelled BJP’s practice of sharing power one day and labelling those same parties as separatists and pro-Pakistan the next, as “sheer opportunism”.
At a press conference in New Delhi, BJP leader Smriti Irani said, “The National Conference speaks of a different flag. Does the Congress party support the National Conference’s promise of a separate flag for Jammu and Kashmir?
“The NC speaks about LoC trade while Pakistan continues to nurture terrorism and an ecosystem that is aligned with terrorists. Does the Congress party support the Pakistani agenda of creating unrest in Jammu and Kashmir that has been pronounced on many platforms,” Irani asked.
However, when asked about the opposition’s counter question that if the BJP’s alliance with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir in the past was also “unholy”, Irani gave an evasive reply: “Abrogation of Article 370 was part of our resolve for many years. We abrogated Article 370 and fulfilled our promise.”
The polls will be held in three phases on September 18 and 25 and October 1. The counting of votes is scheduled for October 4.
BJP-PDP alliance
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were last held in November 2014, with the PDP and the BJP forming a coalition government, headed by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
After Sayeed’s death in 2016, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti became the chief minister of the coalition government.
The BJP pulled out of the government in June 2018 and the state was put under governor’s rule.
On August 5, 2019, the BJP-led Centre abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and reorganised the erstwhile state into two Union territories – Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
