NC, PDP, Cong, CPM to take call on participation; Sajjad, Bukhari to join
*No specific agenda, meeting open for discussion
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 19: Fourteen top political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir including National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and UT BJP head Ravinder Raina have been invited for a meeting by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi at 3 pm on June 24 with no specific agenda and leaders free to raise the issues they have.
Soon after getting the invite from Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti called meeting of senior party leaders of their respective parties to take a decision on whether to attend the meeting or not. However, there were indications that NC and PDP could attend the APM as Dr Abdullah had recently stated that they are open to dialogue.
Prominent political leaders, who have received the invitation for All Party Meeting (APM) till tonight were Ghulam Nabi Azad, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, all former Chief Ministers, Dr Nirmal Singh, Kavinder Gupta, Muzaffar Hussain Beigh and Tara Chand, all former Deputy Chief Ministers, Ravinder Raina, BJP UT president, GA Mir, Pradesh Congress Committee chief , Prof Bhim Singh, supremo Nationalist Panthers Party, Altaf Bukhari, president Apni Party, Sajjad Lone, chairman People’s Conference and MY Tarigami, general secretary CPM.
A total of 14 political leaders have been extended invitation for the All Party Meeting.
All the invitees have, however, been asked to bring COVID-19 negative certificates with them.
Official sources told the Excelsior that all four former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir have been invited for the talks. While Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are also presidents of their parties, former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha till his retirement from the Upper House in February this year and was CM of J&K from 2005-2008, has also been called to the meeting. Another former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is vice president of the NC.
Among four Deputy Chief Ministers invited to the meeting, Kavinder Gupta and Nirmal Singh belonged to the BJP, Tara Chand to the Congress and Muzaffar Baig to the People’s Conference.
Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and senior representatives of the Central Government are likely to attend the meeting.
Confirming the invitation, National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah, who also happens to be the Chairman of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), told the Excelsior that he will call a meeting of senior party leaders and take a decision on attending the meeting.
Sources said the National Conference president has started the process of telephonic consultations with senior leaders of the party and take a call on attending the meeting. If required, he might call Online meeting of the senior party leaders for decision on attending the meeting.
Omar Abdullah also confirmed receiving the invitation and said he will go along the direction of the party chief.
Mehbooba Mufti told the Excelsior that soon after receiving the invitation from the Union Home Secretary this evening, she has convened meeting of Political Affairs Committee (PAC) at 3 pm tomorrow in Srinagar to discuss the invite.
“We will take a decision in the PAC meeting about the All Party Meeting,” Mehbooba said.
Insiders in National Conference and PDP said the two parties are likely to attend the meeting.
People’s Conference chairman Sajjad Lone has also received invite for the All Party Meeting.
Sources in the People’s Conference said Lone will attend the meeting as the party feels that they always stand for engagement and there can be no better forum for talks than the meeting called by the Prime Minister.
PCC (I) president GA Mir said he sought agenda of the meeting from the Union Home Secretary when he rang him up and was told that there is no “specific agenda”.
“The meeting is open for discussions and participants are free to raise their issues,” Mir quoted the Home Secretary as saying.
BJP UT chief Ravinder Raina said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a lot for Jammu and Kashmir especially in the field of development and hoped that the trend of further boosting development works will continue. He added that he will highlight development of J&K during the tenure of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister in the meeting and project other issues.
Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party chairman Altaf Bukhari said his stand has been vindicated that all issues of Jammu and Kashmir will be settled in New Delhi.
Asserting that he will attend the meeting, Bukhari said all issues faced by the people of Jammu and Kashmir will be highlighted in the meeting.
CPM general secretary and spokesman of Gupkar Alliance MY Tarigami said he was called by the Union Home Secretary and invited to the meeting.
“We will sit and decide about participation (in the All Party Meeting) in next couple of days,” Tarigami said.
Nationalist Panthers Party (NPP) supremo Prof Bhim Singh, who received invitation for the meeting late this evening, said he will call meeting of the NPP Secretariat tomorrow or day after and take opinion of senior party leaders on participation in the meeting.
Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand said he is undergoing treatment at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi and will take a decision on day of the meeting whether he can attend or not. Moreover, he said, he will also consult the party high command.
However, Dr Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta, former Deputy Chief Ministers from the BJP said they will attend.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
