Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Srinagar, Aug 14: A week after the appointment of Manoj Sinha as the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Jammu and Kashmir and reports that Advisory Council may be formed in the Union territory to start the political process, BJP Friday said that they are not against any decision which connects people and the government.
“BJP is not against any decision which connects people and the government. I cannot say that the advisory council will be formed. Discussions do happen, but yes our part wants that there must be some initiative to connect with the people,” former Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Dr Nirmal Singh said.
Singh said public reach out is important to start the political process in Jammu and Kashmir. “We believe that the political activity must carry forward in Jammu and Kashmir. We are hopeful that LG Manoj Sinha will soon take a decision to create such a link where common people can be reached,” he said.
He said it is not possible to restore the political process if we could not reach the public.
“People’s trust in the government should be restored, people’s trust is necessary. For that, LG Sinha should create such a link where people can list their problems and the government addresses them,” the BJP leader said.
At present, there are four advisors to the L-G — Kewal Kumar Sharma, Farooq Khan, Rajeev Bhatnagar and Baseer Ahmed Khan. All of them were appointed during G C Murmu’s tenure.
BJP sources said that one of the grievances against Murmu was that he was more or less bureaucratic in his functioning and he rarely met people to know about their issues.
Singh said the first step to restore normalcy in J&K is initiating dialogue with political parties, which can facilitate desired results.
He said the delimitation process should be sped up and before thinking of holding elections in the UT, everyone should be approached to listen to their concerns, he added. (KINS)
