Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 27: BJP in-charge for the recent Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Ram Madhav has said that Omar Abdullah-led NC Government doesn’t completely represent the entire J&K and that Jammu is missing from it.
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He said the BJP never considered aligning with the National Conference.
“The NC managed to form Government in Jammu and Kashmir with just the support from the Valley,” Madhav said in an interview to a national daily.
As far as the BJP is concerned, he said, in Gurez, the party candidate came very close to victory. In another constituency in South Kashmir, considered to be a stronghold of the hardliners, the BJP candidate secured more than 7,000 votes.
He said that as far as politics and elections are concerned, Kashmir in now like any other State in the country.
In response to a question whether the BJP considered aligning with NC, Madhav said, “no, never.”
“We were hoping that we would be able to get a good number of seats and that there will be a Government that has equitable representation of both the divisions,” he said but added that a Kashmir-centric Government is in place because the mandate was such.
The Prime Minister’s message has been that life without Article 370 is much better than life with it, Madhav said. He pointed out that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has also said on the very day of the election results that 370 was not a priority.
Commenting on the Statehood of J&K, Madhav said that the two words commonly used to talk about Statehood are: return and restore. He said people should stop using both these words. Because the Jammu and Kashmir that is now being talked about is totally a new entity.
On the issues of the UT of Ladakh, Madhav said, there are complicated issues.
“In Ladakh, the demand for the Sixth Schedule is largely to do with the specific purpose of protecting the land and jobs of the people there,” he said, adding that talks are on and the issues will be addressed.
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