“BJP to contest all seats in J&K,” Amit Shah tells party leaders to start preparations for assembly polls

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the BJP will contest all the seats in Jammu and Kashmir when elections are held for the Legislative Assembly soon. Shah gave this assurance to workers, who pointed out that the party did not put up candidates in the Kashmir valley for Srinagar, Baramullah, and Anantnag seats. These comments were made during an interaction with party leaders and delegations he met at a hotel.

Several delegations, including those of the BJP led by former minister Sunil Sharma, Gujjar Bakerwals, Paharis and Sikh,. The BJP’s national general secretary, Tarun Chugh, was also present in the meeting, which was attended by Darkshan Andrabi, Hina Bhat and others. Shah told the BJP delegation that he has worked very hard to strengthen the party all over India. It is reported that he said that in some battles, it was a tactical decision not to contest the three seats in Kashmir.

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Shah had first spoken about the BJP’s plans not to contest the seats in Kashmir during the ongoing elections in Jammu during a campaign rally a month ago. He said that his party cadres must vote against the National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Congress. These three parties kept Jammu & Kashmir embroiled in problems by their dynastic rule and machinations. As such, one of the first tasks for the BJP workers was to work against these entities.

Shah stressed that the party leaders should ensure that all the BJP supporters vote in the next round of elections, but against these parties. In Kashmir, other than these three parties, Jammu Kashmir Apni Party led by Altaf Bukhari and the People’s Conference (PC) led by Sajjad Lone are in the fray. Shah’s directive to not vote for the NC, PDP and the Congress is being interpreted as a direction to either support the Apni Party or Lone’s PC.

Incidentally, Omar Abdullah, the third generation scion of the Abdullah family led by Dr Farooq Abdullah, is pitted against Sajjad Lone from Baramullah Lok Sabha constituency. He also has got the support of former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussein Baig who was earlier in the PDP. Baig’s wife Safina Baig was the president of the women wing of the PDP and considered close to Mehbooba Mufti. Baig was one of the founder members of the PDP and had stood with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for a long time.

In an interview some days ago, Muzaffar Baig said that his differences with Mehbooba cropped up after she made some remarks about Tricolour in 2018. Those remarks had also led to her estrangement with the BJP which withdrew from the coalition government led by her. A couple of days ago, Mehbooba’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, said her grandfather Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was one of the first Kashmiris to carry Tricolour.

The Supreme Court of India had directed the Centre to hold assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir by September 30 this year. The directions were issued on December 11, 2023, when the apex court disposed off petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370. It had also remarked that the Centre has already stated that statehood will be restored to J&K in due course of time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have said that statehood will be restored to J&K when the time was right.

Shah’s visit to Srinagar is a signal to the party workers to start preparations for the assembly polls in the Union Territory (UT). It was being said earlier that the BJP decision not to contest Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir had demoralised the party cadres.