Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Aug 29: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president, G A Mir today accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using Article 35-A to create vote bank for the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country.
JKPCC chief while addressing a press conference here said that the BJP has no achievement to show to the people and now is taking advantage of several issues including Article 35-A to gain votes.
Mir was accompanied by Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, MLC G N Monga, Haji Abdul Rasheed, Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed and Secretary Shakeel Ahmad Khan.
Mir while referring to a query over Article 35-A said that the Congress as party has cleared its stand over the issue, saying that the party’s senior leaders had earlier said that the Article 370 is the strongest bridge between Jammu and Kashmir and union of India and Article 35-A is also the part of the constitution. “Therefore, I believe the Congress party has cleared its stand several years back and we are stuck with the claims made by our senior leaders,” he said.
Asked about the threat issued by the militants, Mir said that the elections in the State have been held amidst the threats since 90’s. “Now, it stands the responsibility of the Government to access the situation on the ground and assure safety and security to the people,” he said, adding that the Congress party is always ready for any democratic exercise but let the Government should assure the safety of candidates as well the people.
He said that he will also talk to Governor, urging him to assess the ground situation first prior to issuing notifications for any democratic exercise.
Earlier, Punjab Finance Minister, Manpreet Badal accused Prime Minister Narinder Modi of causing a loss of Rs. 41,000 crore to the exchequer in the purchase of Rafale fighter jets from France. “During our tenure, the Congress party was getting each Rafale costing Rs 526 crore but the BJP led Government bought the Rafale amounting Rs 1670 crore, thus giving a huge loss to the country,” Badal said.
The Congress leader also informed that in view of the huge loss to the exchequer, the party has decided to go for peaceful protests from September 5 to September 15 during which a memorandum will also be sent to the President of India, seeking his intervention in this regard.
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