NEW DELHI, Aug 6:
Even as the Congress leaders were divided on the revocation of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the party on Tuesday convened a meeting of its Congress Working Committee (CWC), to discuss the matter.
The CWC, party’s highest decision making body, has convened the meeting at AICC headquarters just after the Lok Sabha which approved the abolishing the special status to the border state, was over.
The meeting was attended by top leadership including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, AK Antony, KC Venugopal, Motilal Vohra, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, P Chidambaram, Priyanka Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Meera Kumar, Harish Rawat, Oommen Chandy and Kumari Shelja.
It is expected that the CWC would pass a resolution on the issue to clear party’s stand at a time when several leaders had taken a different stand and supported the Narendra Modi Government.
Earlier, going against the party’s stand, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia stated that abolition of Article 370 was in the nation’s interest and he supports the move made by ruling BJP in Parliament.
“I support the move on Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and its full integration into union of India”, Mr Scindia tweeted at a time when Home Minister Amit Shah was giving reply to the discussion over Article 370 in Lok Sabha.
“Would have been better if constitutional process had been followed. No questions could have been raised then. Nevertheless, this is in our country’s interest and I support this”, the former Union Minister further said.
Mr Scindia’s statement hints cracks in Congress clan.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi had lambasted Modi Government for the revoking Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir.
“National integration is not furthered by unilaterally tearing apart Jammu and Kashmir, imprisoning elected representatives and violating our Constitution. This nation is made by its people, not plots of land”, he tweeted early in the day.
While its Rajya Sabha leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and former Union Minister P Chidambaram were vehemently opposed the Modi Government’s move in Rajya Sabha, senior leader and Gandhi family loyalist Janardhan Dwivedi welcomed government’s decision.
Pointing out that former Socialist leader and his ‘mentor’ Ram Manohar Lohia was against to providing the special category position to Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Dwivedi said that this is the matter of national satisfaction.
“It is my personal view, not party’s view. A mistake made during independence has been corrected, even if belatedly”, he added.
Congress Rajya Sabha chief whip and five time MP from Assam, Bhuvaneshwar Kalita had resigned from party and from Upper House, in protest against the party’s stand on Kashmir issue.
Former MP and son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda, Deeper Singh Hooda has also backed Modi government’s decision.
“I have already been of the view that Article 370 is not justified in the 21st century and it should be removed. It is also in the interest of the integrity of the country and the people of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral part of our country. But it is entirely the responsibility of the present Government to implement it in an atmosphere of peace and trust”, he tweeted in Hindi.(UNI)
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