Talks in advanced stage in Rajouri, Poonch
*BJP high command for analyzing Rajouri, Poonch, Valley results
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 2: In a big political development, the National Conference and Congress today joined hands to get majority in the District Development Council (DDC) Ramban thwarting the BJP attempt to cobble up an alliance with three Independents of ‘Azaad Itehaad’ while the NC was poised to claim majority in Kishtwar DDC in next couple of days and was in touch with like-minded parties and Independents in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
On the other, the Central leadership of the BJP has asked its Jammu and Kashmir unit to analyze the results in Rajouri and Poonch besides the Kashmir Valley where its performance though good wasn’t completely on the expected lines.
The National Conference and Congress paraded eight DDC winners of Ramban district at the NC headquarters today-six belonging to NC and two to Congress-thus attaining majority in the Council which has 14 members. With this, Ramban has become first district which has gone to the `Opposition’ in the Jammu region and has boosted morale of the two parties to go ahead in three remaining districts which have thrown hung verdict.
With NC and Congress coming together, the BJP bid to secure majority in Ramban with the help of `Azaad Itehaad’ has been foiled. The BJP and `Azaad Itehaad’ of former bureaucrat BA Runiyal had three members each in Ramban and were two seats short of majority. Eight DDC winners were paraded before media at the NC headquarters this evening by party provincial president Devender Singh Rana, who was instrumental in cobbling up the alliance.
“The Chairperson at the Ramban DDC will be from National Conference and Vice Chairperson from the Congress,” sources said.
“And, Kishtwar DDC will be next where we will get the numbers soon,” sources in the National Conference said.
They added that NC has won six seats out of 14 in Kishtwar while one Independent has won with the party support as mandate couldn’t be delivered to him on time. The party is short of one candidate and has the support of one out of two Independents. BJP and Congress have three seats each in Kishtwar.
However, according to sources, the National Conference might not go with the Congress in Kishtwar and prefer support of one Independent to claim majority in the DDC.
in Rajouri and Poonch districts, local leadership of the National Conference is in touch with Congress as well as Independent candidates. Sources said since Congress has four seats in Poonch and NC two, the former wants major role in the district. In Rajouri district, however, National Conference has five and Congress three seats though one former Minister of the latter has also won a seat.
Independent candidates were, however, calling shots in Poonch district, according to political leaders of various parties. The Independents were in no mood to give major role to National Conference and Congress in Poonch. PDP has also one seat in Rajouri besides there is one Independent. Apni Party too has one seat while the BJP has three.
The BJP, it may be mentioned, has clear majority in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur, Doda and Reasi districts of the Jammu region. It has 13 seats each in Samba and Kathua, 11 each in Jammu and Udhampur, eight in Doda and seven in Reasi and was waiting for issuance of reservation roster by the Rural Development Department before staking claim for the posts of Chairperson and Vice Chairperson.
National Conference provincial president Devender Singh Rana said: “mandate of the people is in our favour in Ramban, Kishtwar and Rajouri districts and we will form the Councils there and honour the people’s mandate. We have achieved majority in Ramban and will shortly get in Kishtwar. We are in advanced stage of discussions in Rajouri and Poonch districts”.
Sources said the Central leadership of the BJP has also spoken to Jammu and Kashmir unit leaders and asked them to analyze results of the DDC elections which though were good but not completely as per expectations as the party could have done better in Rajouri-Poonch districts.
The BJP won 47 DDC seats on Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat and 25 in Rajouri-Poonch Parliamentary seat besides three in the Kashmir valley where it opened its account for the first time.
The Central leadership was of the view that though the BJP has done reasonably well and emerged as single largest party in Jammu and Kashmir, it could have done better in Rajouri and Poonch districts and Kashmir going by the massive campaigning by several Union Ministers and senior national leaders of the party.
Though the BJP won 11 out of 14 seats in Jammu district and lost two others by slender margin, it couldn’t even open its account in Poonch district while in Rajouri district it won just three seats though it represented two out of four Assembly constituencies in the last Assembly (Kalakote and Nowshera). Nowshera was represented by the BJP president Ravinder Raina and Kalakote by former Cabinet Minister Abdul Ghani Kohli. In Kashmir, the BJP won three out of 140 seats despite high profile campaign by Union Ministers and national leaders including `Shikara and Tonga rallies’.
Sources said the J&K BJP leaders have given their view point to the Central leadership.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
