NC chief invites 9 Jammu leaders on Wed
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, June 20: Hectic political consultations were on in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday within mainstream regional parties including the National Conference (NC) and the PDP over an all-party meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24.
NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah today called nine party leaders from Jammu region to Srinagar for consultations on All Party Meeting on Wednesday after which the party is likely to make its stand clear.
The leaders invited for talks include Devender Singh Rana, Ajay Sadhotra, Surjit Singh Slathia, Sajjad Kitchloo, Khalid Najeeb Suhrawardhy, Javed Rana, Mushtaq Bukhari, TS Wazir and Rattan Lal Gupta.
As the day began, a two-hour-long Political Affairs Committee meeting of Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP was held.
“The party unanimously authorised the party president to take a final decision on the matter,” PDP chief spokesperson Syed Suhail Bukhari told reporters outside Mufti’s residence after the meeting.
Bukhari said a meeting of the PAGD will take place on Tuesday where the member parties will discuss the issue and then a final decision will be taken on whether to participate or not in the meeting called by the Prime Minister.
“After two days, the PAGD is meeting, this issue will be discussed. The members of the alliance will give their suggestions and a decision on the way forward will be taken there and afterwards, a decision will be taken over the participation of the meeting,” he said.
Former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah also started the process of consultations with senior leaders of the NC including party general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar and provincial president of Kashmir Nasir Aslam Wani.
Others who attended the meeting were Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Mian Altaf, Mubarak Gul, Sakina Itoo, Khalid Najeeb Suhurwardy and two Members of Parliament Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi.
“The consultations are on. After the party president is done talking to party leaders, a meeting of the PAGD will take place where the member parties will discuss the issue and take a collective decision,” Wani told reporters after the meeting.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Congress president G A Mir today held consultations with senior party colleagues in Jammu to know their viewpoint about the Centre’s invitation to regional parties for talks in Delhi.
The deliberations lasted over two hours and would continue during the next two days with other senior leaders including those from Kashmir before a final decision is taken with regard to the party’s participation in the meeting on June 24, a party said in a release here.
It said those who took part in the deliberations included former ministers Raman Bhallan, Mulla Ram, Yogesh Sawhney, Abdul Majid Wani, former MLC Ravinder Sharma and Kanta Bhan, Balwan Singh,T S Bajwa, Shah Mohammad Chowdhury, Manmohan Singh, Ashok Sharma, T Balbir Singh, Ved Mahajan and Advocate K K Pangotra.
“The leaders have given their inputs about the sentiments and aspirations of the people, which need to be conveyed to the Centre firmly, especially the restoration of full statehood with adequate constitutional safeguards,” the release said.
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