Taking a strong exception to objections by opposition parties over the recommendations of the delimitation commission, Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Tuesday said the People's Alliance of Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) has lost public support due to their “misrule” over the years.He also said the BJP is “connecting and not dividing” the people, while opposition PAGD leaders are “poisoning their minds” for petty political gains.The Delimitation Commission on Jammu and Kashmir has proposed six additional assembly seats for Jammu region and one for Kashmir, while reserving 16 constituencies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, triggering strong protests from parties such as the National Conference which made it clear that it would not sign the report in its present form.Countering the objections raised by PAGD leaders over the recommendations, the BJP leader said whether it is delimitation commission or election commission, these are autonomous and independent institutions which have their own powers.“The delimitation commission came out with its recommendations after working for over two years, during which they met leaders of all political parties, social workers, district development and block development council members, heads of organisations of panchs and sarpanchs, and collected data from government machinery, including deputy commissioners, and worked on set parameters,” he said.
Raina further said if an independent institution is saying something and that too headed by a retired Supreme Court judge whose credibility and transparency is well known, there is no place for objection.He said the National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress have ruled Jammu and Kashmir over the last seven decades, but failed to give equal rights to different communities.“I do not see anything wrong in increasing six seats to Jammu region and one in Kupwara district of north Kashmir. They should talk of the whole Jammu and Kashmir as a unit rather than restricting their politics to ‘mohalla’ (locality) level,” the BJP leader said, adding that “they are free to raise their concerns with the commission rather than making it an issue”.The BJP leader said the party is happy over the recommendation for reservation of nine seats to Scheduled Tribes and seven seats to Scheduled Caste communities.“The Scheduled Tribes were oppressed by NC, PDP and Congress over the years for their vested interests, while the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided them justice and equal rights,” he said.Raina said the opposition parties are smelling their defeat before the elections as they have “lost the faith and support” of the public.“We are linking people and they are poisoning their minds by provocative statements,” he alleged and asked the PAGD leadership to stop “provoking” the public and instead work for the welfare of the people.He added that the BJP has set a target of 50 plus seats in the next assembly elections which would be held after the completion of the delimitation exercise.( KINS)