Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Mar 29: As grant of district status in various parts of Jammu region is gaining momentum and coalition is facing a stiff opposition from the public on this issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is an alliance partner in the State Government, will strongly press for constitution of a Commission to examine new districts demand in its State Executive meeting to be held on April 1 at border town of Suchetgarh.
According to sources, BJP which has got a massive mandate from the Jammu region in 2014 Assembly elections by winning 25 seats, can’t afford to maintain a stoic silence over the demand and party will adopt a resolution in this regard during the State Executive meet at Suchetgarh.
The State Executive meeting will be preceded by Core Group meeting of the party on March 31 at BJP Headquarters, Trikuta Nagar in which the resolution and agenda put forth in the State Executive meeting will be discussed threadbare.
Sources said, the Party can’t ignore the genuine concerns of the people demanding the establishment of the districts in various areas of the region and hence, it will press for constitution of Commission which will examine the demand in totality.
Besides, the Party will also include all the points in the resolution which form the part of the Agenda of Alliance (AoA) of two coalition partners and on which both of them were principally in agreement, sources said, adding the main thrust will be given to fulfill the AoA in the remaining three years term of the coalition Government.
Among the AoA, sources said constitution of Delimitation Commission is one of the main points and this issue will figure in the political resolution of the Party at SE meet also. Moreover treating of International Border (IB) at par with the Line of Control (LoC) and grant of same facilities which are given to the people of the LoC to the people of IB as they also suffer due to cross border shelling. Hence no different yardsticks be applied in grant of facilities and incentives to the people living in same situation and also facing problems alike, sources added.
The resolutions will also forcefully press for development of tourism in Jammu region which in principle has also been in the AoA of two parties. It will thrust on paying an equal attention to the tourist resorts of Jammu region for boosting the tourist trade in the region and promoting the economy of the people, sources added.
The resolution will also give thrust on boosting the industry in the region and creation of basic infrastructure in all three regions including Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, sources added.
Sources said the State Executive meet which is held after every three months has been delayed by two months this time. As per precedence the State Executive meet is held every time within a week or so after the National Council meet but this time due to the elections in various states, the NE meet could not take place on schedule date and was delayed which, in turn, resulted in the delay of State Executive meet, sources added.
Last time, two days State Executive Committee and office bearers meet of the Party was held at Dak Bungalow Srinagar on October 28 and 29 in 2017.
Sources said BJP national vice president Avinash Rai Khanna was likely to participate in the SE meeting while no other senior leader so far has given consent to be available in the meeting in view of their preoccupation with Assembly elections of Karnataka which are slated to be held in May.
However, Minister of State in PMO, Dr, Jitendra Singh who will reach here tomorrow and who is also the Core Group member was also likely to be present in both the meetings.
Meanwhile, the BJP held a meeting of Party Ministers, senior office bearers at Trikuta Nagar today. The meeting was among others attended by Deputy CM , Dr Nirmal Singh, Minister of Forests Ch. Lal Singh, Minister of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Choudhary, Minister of Industries, C P Ganga, Minister of Health and Medical Education, Bali Bhagat, Minister of Sheep and Animal Husbandry, Abdul Gani Kohli, MoS for Education, Culture and Tourism, Priya Sethi and MoS for Finance, Ajay Nanda.
Besides, it was attended by MP (RS) Shamsher Singh Manhas, Party State chief, Sat Sharma four general secretaries including Ashok Kaul, Dr Narinder Singh, Pawan Khajuria and Harinder Gupta.
Sources however termed it a routine affair in which some organizational issues including the performance of the Government was discussed. During the meeting, stress was given to further increase public -ministers liaison and ministers were asked by the party leadership to start visiting their different areas from next month to have an interaction with people and listen to their grievances.
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