OCCUPIED JAMMU: The general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ram Madhav, said on Sunday while his party would likely go alone in the upcoming assembly elections in India-held Kashmir, it would form a stable government with “some friends” there after the polls.

He said his party would contest all the seats in the elections for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.

“There is the least possibility of a pre-poll alliance with any party for the assembly elections in the state. The BJP will emerge as the largest party after the elections and will give a stable government to the people with some friends,” he told reporters here.

Due to the special circumstances in the disputed region, “we have no hesitation in joining hands with others” to form a government, he said.

Talking about the BJP’s erstwhile ruling alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Madhav said: “After elections we formed an alliance, but today again the BJP is going it alone in the elections.”

The BJP leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would kick-start the party’s campaign for the parliamentary and assembly polls in the state during his visit on February 3.

“While the parliamentary elections are scheduled for April-May, the BJP is ready for assembly polls in the state as well. It is up to the Election Commission to decide whether the two polls are held together or separately,” he said.

The Election Commission had in November last year said fresh elections in the Himalayan region would be held within the next six months. The state is currently under president’s rule. Madhav rejected allegations that the BJP did not favour assembly polls in the region. “There is no truth in the rumours that the BJP is not in favour of early assembly polls in the state,” he said.

He claimed that some other parties wanted the polls to be deferred there because of fear of losing them.

Asked about the PDP expelling former minister Altaf Bukhari, he said: “I don’t want to talk about internal matters of another party, but I must underscore one point here that he is the same leader who was projected as the chief minister of the combined opposition when they [PDP, Congress and National Conference] were trying to form the government in the state just a couple of months ago.”

Speaking about Kashmiri Pandits, the BJP leader said his party had prepared a roadmap for the community’s return and rehabilitation, which would be implemented only when the situation in the India-held valley improved.

“We identified land in the valley for Pandat townships... but due to various reason the plan could not materialise, the biggest being the current security situation in the valley,” he said.

By arrangement with the Times of India

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2019