Sameer A Lone
SRINAGAR: Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP) and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Jan Shakti (LJP), might be a strong partners at Center ruling the country, but here in Srinagar’s Habba Kadal assembly segment both the parties are at cross-roads against each other.
LJP, candidate for Habba Kadal seat, Sanjay Saraf blames BJP for being deceitful, and said that BJP is banking on poll boycott in the Valley. He said the party was indulging in un-constitutional activities to enforce poll-boycott in some pockets of the city.
Talking to Kashmir Scenario over phone from Jammu, Saraf blamed the BJP proved to be very greedy in search of power and overlooked their alliance partner in J&K.
“It would have been better if BJP had supported us. Both the LJP and BJP are partners in the government and it would have been made both the parties stronger for making the government in the state. But they preferred a parachute candidate for the Habba-Kadal seat, who is totally ignorant about the area,” he said.
Saraf said this will only divide the votes further and will make their opponents seven stronger.
He alleged that BJP in order to grab power is playing a very cheap and un-constitutional politics. “In Jammu BJP asks people to vote in large numbers while in Kashmir the party wants an effective boycott? BJP knows only boycott can help them to win some seats in the valley. The party is trying all to enforce boycott which is against the constitutional,” he said.
It is not for the first time that BJP has surprised its alliance partner LJP in Kashmir where it has a strong grip in Habba-Kadal area. The BJP has earlier surprised its old ally Shiv Sena to bend to its wishes in Maharashtra.
BJP is desperate on a seat from Kashmir under its own banner as the party thinks it would boost PM Modi’s pan India image.
According to sources, BJP is eying for three seats in Kashmir valley which are Sopore, Habba Kadal and Tral and is mostly depending upon the Pandit migrant votes.