Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, May 30: J&K unit of Bharatiya Janata Party opposing the idea of setting up any advisory council in the union territory till elections are held indicates that BJP leaders in J&K are in no mood to share power with anyone.
It’s in place to mention here that soon after the idea of political council in J&K went viral across the UT, BJP president for J&K Ravinder Raina gave a fiery interview to a local news channel in Jammu and claimed that “J&K’s next Chief Minister will be from Jammu region and he won’t allow any interim government to be formed in the UT.”
Raina even told the interviewer that he should stop worrying and stop falling in any “chakars.” “Ravinder Raina is famous for stirring controversies. But the way he reacted to the rumours about the advisory council to be formed was a clear signal to the party high command that if it takes any such decision it won’t aurgur well with the BJP’s J&K unit,” an analyst told Precious Kashmir.
He said, “At present BJP leaders are a part of the system in J&K. They have no direct involvement but indirectly they are playing their role. That’s why they are resisting any change in the status-quo. It appears that they don’t want to share power with anyone. In coming days, we may see more political developments taking place.”
The analyst said that the day Centre decides that J&K needs a political council it will go ahead. “When BJP pulled out from the PDP led government in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 the BJP’s state unit was caught unaware. It came as a big surprise for the BJP ministers in then government led by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. Many of them were in the civil secretariat when the BJP national general secretary, Ram Madhav, made the announcement about coalition with PDP being over,” he added.
“There have been sharp reactions from the BJP to the idea of political council in J&K but will these matter or not remains to be seen and within a few days,” the analyst added.
He said, “It seems that people sitting in New Delhi too are keen at reviving the political process in Jammu and Kashmir. A few people opposing it won’t make much of a difference. BJP national leaders seem to be of the opinion that Kashmiris need to be empowered politically to put things back on track. The decision seems to be have been delayed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.”