Wooing the Pahari community in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, BJP leaders on Tuesday shared the stage with the Apni Party (AP) chief Altaf Bukhari in Poonch and asked the people to vote for AP candidate Zafar Iqbal Manhas to defeat the National Conference (NC) and PDP on the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat that goes to polls on 25 May.

The BJP has not fielded its candidates on any of the three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir valley and is supporting Apni Party on the Anantnag and Srinagar seats and the Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone in Baramulla. Home Minister Amit Shah in a recent rally in Jammu, had said that the BJP was not in a hurry to contest the Lok Sabha election in Kashmir and will do so only after love for the lotus blooms in the hearts of Kashmiris.

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Narendra Shivaji Patel, a BJP minister in Madhya Pradesh, is also campaigning in the two border districts in favour of the Apni Party candidate.

J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina today addressed half-a-dozen election rallies in and around the border area of Nowshera, seeking votes for Manhas and defeating the dynastic parties.

The BJP and the Apni Party are jointly eyeing the Paharis whom the government recently granted Scheduled Tribe status and 10 per cent reservation in jobs. Delegations of Pahari leaders met Amit Shah during his recent sudden visit to Srinagar and pledged their support to the BJP.

Paharis are in sizable numbers among the total 18.36 lakh electorate in the Lok Sabha constituency.

Addressing a rally, BJP general secretary Vibodh Gupta said the party has decided to support Manhas to defeat politics of corruption and dynasty and no one can stop the ‘Bat’ (election symbol of Apni Party) from winning.

Asking people to defeat the “divisive agenda” that is being promoted by the two dynastic political parties — NC and PDP — Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari said the politics of hate has promoted regional bias, detention of youth, underdevelopment, and unemployment in the Pir Panjal region for the last seven decades.

“These parties exploited the people by creating a wedge between them in the name of region and religion. Time has come for people to come forward and elect Zafar Iqbal Manhas, Bukhari said.

He criticised the National Conference for not providing protection to the tribal community and other dwellers under the Forest Rights Act when they were in rule during the last many years in J&K.

“These parties are responsible for instability in Jammu and Kashmir that resulted into the uncertain future,” he said, while asserting that Jammu and Kashmir’s future is with India.