Kashmir BJP slams Congress for ‘misleading’ people
August 26th, 2012 - 10:30 pm ICT by IANSJammu, Aug 26 (IANS) The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Sunday lashed out at the Congress party for trying to mislead people by protesting against the 73rd and 74th amendments of the constitution on the one hand and continuing to ally with the National Conference (NC).
Addressing a news conference here, BJP chief spokesperson and national excecutive member Jitendra Singh said that the Congress takes credit for initiating the 73rd and 74th amendments during the tenure of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Singh alleged that while these amendments are a part of the Congress’ election manifesto, the state Congress unit has not been able to get the amendments implemented by the state government.
“If the state Congress leadership is genuinely honest about its intentions it should immediately withdraw from the coalition government, its ministers should resign and its leaders and workers should join hands with the BJP to launch a joint opposition agitation against National Conference-led government,” Singh said.
This was in reference to the protest march taken out by Youth Congress workers in Srinagar Friday in which protesters were cane-charged by police to prevent them from marching to the deputy commissioners’s office.
The protesters were demanding more powers for elected village representatives in Jammu and Kashmir by seeking extension of 73rd and 74th amendments to the state.
The amendments grant constitutional status to elected rural local bodies and provide for direct elections to all seats in the panchayats, compulsory elections to panchayats every five years, mandatory reservation of seats for Dalits and advisasis in proportion to their share of the panchayat population and mandatory reservation of one-third of seats for women.
Despite boycott calls and threats from separatists, the majority of the people participated in the state panchayat elections in 2011. But the NC-led state government has not implemented 73rd and 74th amendments. The NC says that state laws have similar provisions, so there is no need to enforce the central laws.
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- National Conference not keen for district councils in Kashmir - Jan 29, 2011
- Jammu and Kashmir not for national pattern in local polls - Mar 14, 2011
- A Panchayati Kashmir: The importance of holding the Panchayat polls - Feb 10, 2011
- Local bodies poll in Kashmir from April 13 - Mar 14, 2011
- Call fresh elections in Kashmir: National Panthers Party - Nov 08, 2011
- Power will shift from secretariat to panchayats: Omar - Jul 01, 2011
- 'Cancel assembly memberships of expelled BJP legislators' - Feb 19, 2012
- Manmohan Singh emphasises on need to strengthen panchayats - Apr 24, 2011
- Omar aims at more power to panchayats - Feb 11, 2011
- After successful election, 35,000 Kashmiri panchayat members to be trained - Nov 23, 2011
- Congress-NC fissures surface again - Jul 29, 2011
- BJP raps government on Amarnath Yatra decision - May 16, 2012
- Kashmiris have voted for democracy, development: Sonia - May 23, 2011
Tags: agitation, amendments of the constitution, bhartiya janta party, bjp, chief spokesperson, coalition government, congress leadership, congress party, congress workers, constitutional status, dalits, deputy commissioners, election manifesto, jammu and kashmir, kashmir, protest march, rajiv gandhi, srinagar, state congress, youth congress