Cornered by Omar, BJP Abandons “Patriotic” Parties in Kashmir Election Campaign

BJP Jammu and Kashmir unit president Ravinder Raina told ETV Bharat's Mir Farhat the party will back those nominees, who are honest and strive for the welfare of the people. He spoke with party workers in Srinagar and called upon them to support and campaign for the “patriotic and pro-welfare parties and candidates."

Srinagar: As the voting for two parliamentary seats of Kashmir is drawing close, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which was proactive in the Valley for the last five years, is dithering from campaigning for its “patriotic parties” that it has promised support after the party surrendered out of the electoral contest in the Valley.

BJP Jammu and Kashmir unit president Ravinder Raina told ETV Bharat the party will support those candidates “who are honest and have the spirit of working” for the people. Raina held several meetings with party workers in Srinagar and asked them to support and campaign for the “patriotic and pro-welfare parties and candidates”.

The BJP president claimed that the party has the strongest network and outreach in Kashmir, and it will make a “separate strategy for the three seats” of the Valley so that its “allies defeat National Conference and PDP. However, the polling for the Srinagar parliamentary seat is just two days away and will be held on May 12, the BJP leaders didn’t campaign for Apni Party candidate Ashraf Mir. Mir is contesting against NC’s Agar Ruhullah and his former party man Waheed Para of PDP.

Mir, who is a former PDP MLA from Sonwar, Srinagar, had defeated NC vice-president and then chief ministerial contender Omar Abdullah in the 2014 Assembly elections. Mir, Ruhullah and Para have taken out rallies and conducted roadshows in Srinagar to mobilise people for their support. But, BJP leaders are not showing up for Mir.

Sources in the Apni Party said that it has asked BJP leaders not to show up in their rallies as it can backfire for the party. BJP Srinagar unit conducted a roadshow in Srinagar on Wednesday, but none of its big Jammu and Kashmir leaders joined the rally. It was attended by little-known workers of the party.

“A roadshow was organised by the BJP Chanapora constituency to demonstrate their strength and support like-minded party candidates in the upcoming elections. The rally was part of a larger campaign initiated by the BJP Srinagar district to support candidates from like-minded parties, which share common ground for a brighter and prosperous India,” BJP media-incharge Sajid Yosuf said.

For the Baramulla parliamentary seat, voting will be held on May 20, yet the BJP leaders or its workers are not showing up for its perceived ally Sajad Lone. Lone, the president of People's Conference (PC) is contesting against NC’s vice-president Omar Abdullah.

Lone has denied being in cahoots with the BJP, but his opponent, Omar, in every election rally targets for being the BJP’s “proxy”. Omar is repeatedly saying that his fight in Baramulla is not against Sajad Lone, but against RSS and BJP’s proxies, hinting at Sajad Lone. Lone is supported by Apni Party, former PDP MP Muzaffar Baig and dozens of other independent political and DDC members.

Both Omar and Lone are carrying out a high-voltage campaign in Baramulla, but the electoral battle is being fought in Kupwara. Lone has been camping in Kupwara for the last two months while Omar has started his campaigning from Kupwara and has spent several nights in the district with his colleagues. Though BJP is out of the electoral fight in Kashmir, in Baramulla it has become the main boxing ring between NC and PC.

Omar’s constant criticism and allegations against Lone have made the campaigning toxic in Baramulla while in Srinagar the campaigning between NC and PDP has been soft where the candidates Aga Ruhullah and Waheed are not resorting to personal attacks and diatribes. Both these candidates are reiterating to speak for “honour, identity and dignity” if elected to Parliament.

Cornered by the NC, the BJP has not set foot in Srinagar and Baramulla, but its leaders of Jammu are holding closed-door meetings in Poonch and Rajouri districts for Apni Party candidate Zaffar Manhas, who is contesting from Anantnag-Rajouri seat.

Manhas, the former secretary of the Cultural Academy of Art and Languages and PDP MLC, is among the founding members of the Apni Party led by Altaf Bukhari. Manhas is banking on the pahadi votes as he is a pahadi from Shopian Falls in the Srinagar parliamentary constituency. Pahadis were granted tribal status by the BJP government and now hopes that the pahadi population will vote for Manhas.

Manhas has not shied away from claiming BJP support for him, saying that when NC and PDP can join the INDIA bloc with Congress for electoral wins, why does his party not seek BJP’s support? Manhas is locked in the poll battle against NC’s veteran Gujjar leader Mian Altaf and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti.

Polling for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat was slated for May 7, but the Election Commission of India rescheduled the polls for May 25, which was opposed by NC and PDP.