BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday said that there was no threat to the ruling PDP-BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir as both the parties were working in coordination.
He told mediapersons here that the controversy surrounding the Kathua rape-murder issue will not affect the alliance between PDP and BJP and the coalition would continue.
The resignations of two BJP ministers, Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga, who courted controversy by attending a rally supporting those accused of raping and killing an eight-year-old girl in Kathua district, will be handed over to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday.
The resignation letters were submitted to the state party chief Sat Sharma by the two ministers on Friday and the issue was discussed in the presence of Ram Madhav by the BJP legislature party this morning.
He chaired the meeting at the party headquarters here when he discussed the role of these ministers with party functionaries and also with the two ministers.
Ram Madhav, who is in-charge of party affairs in J-K, said that the two ministers made it clear that they never intended to create hurdles in the investigations of the rape-murder of Kathua girl. They had gone to the rally of Hindu Ekta Manch to defuse the situation and know what the agitating people were demanding.
He said that the rape-murder incident has shaken the country and there should be no politics on the matter. He lashed out at the Congress and accused it of having tried to politicise the issue. The Congress had adopted double standards on the issue and vitiate the atmosphere in the state.
He said that disciplinary action has been taken against other BJP office-bearers and activists who supported the Hindu Ekta Manch that was spearheading an agitation against the investigation by the crime branch of the state police.
He ruled out a CBI inquiry into the incident and expressed satisfaction with the crime branch’s probe. The charge sheet has been filed within three months of the crime and this shows that there was no interference from any quarters.
Ram Madhav said that the BJP has asked the state government to withdraw the directive of the tribal affairs department on encroachments by nomads on forestland.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami in a statement asked the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and PDP leadership to explain its position after Mehbooba’s brother Tasdauq Mufti said that PDP and BJP have “ended up being partners in a crime (for which) an entire generation of Kashmiris might have to pay with their blood”.
While commenting on the assertions of Tasaduq Mufti, he said, “What is stopping PDP from apologising to the people for entering into an incompatible alliance with RSS led BJP. Despite concerns and warnings by democratic forces in and outside the state about this opportunist alliance, the PDP gave damn to it and today they have put a sensitive state like J-K in deep crisis.”