BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday concluded his two-day visit to Jammu & Kashmir on Saturday by striking a reconciliatory note with the party’s coalition partner, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and asking State BJP leaders to scale down demands on several controversial issues.
Mr. Madhav, who met BJP legislators and Ministers, called on Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu on Friday evening in a bid to resolve differences between the two parties.
BJP sources said the local party leadership apprised Mr. Madhav of issues such as the tribal policy, the Kathua rape-cum-murder case, the agitation of border residents in the Pir Panchal Valley and district status for Nowshera. Mr. Madhav, sources said, ruled out any rift within the coalition partners, as he flew back to New Delhi on Saturday.
Drabu’s ouster
Mr. Madhav described the PDP’s decision to remove Haseeb Drabu from the Mehbooba Cabinet as “an internal matter of the party”.
Mr. Madhav and Mr. Drabu were the architects of the “Agenda of Alliance” between the two parties in 2015.
Kathua rape case
Indicating support to Ms. Mufti’s decision to hold a Crime Branch inquiry into the Kathua rape case, Mr. Madhav assured the BJP leaders who wanted a CBI investigation that the Centre was “watching the case closely”.
He asked the BJP to keep their support in their respective constituencies intact by “focussing on development works and implementation of Centrally sponsored schemes”. He warned against raking up controversies with the PDP, but wanted the BJP Ministers to assert themselves in the Cabinet on critical issues.
