Encounter breaks out in J&K’s Kulgam
An encounter has started between security forces and terrorists in the Kadder area of South Kashmir's Kulgam district, the police said on Thursday.
J&K Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari on Sunday accused former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has decided to float his own political party after quitting Congress, of having ‘struck a deal with the BJP whom he helped in the abrogation of Article 370.’
Azad is directly responsible for the abrogation of Article 370, said Bukhari while addressing a rally in Bijbehara, south Kashmir.
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Bukhari said that despite being the Leader of Opposition, Azad didn’t oppose the abrogation of Article 370 in the Parliament. Bukhari accused Azad of having ‘backstabbed the people of J&K.’
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“People of Jammu & Kashmir are aware of whom you have joined hands with. They know with whom you had struck a deal and backstabbed the people of Jammu & Kashmir,” he said, while attacking Azad.
Bukhari also slammed National Conference leader Dr Farooq Abdullah and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, accusing them of shedding crocodile tears on the issue of abrogation of Article 370. He said that these leaders are misleading the people of Kashmir by raising the slogans of autonomy and self-rule.
Bukhari’s attack at Azad has come at a time when Kashmir-centric political parties and the mainstream Congress are also accusing him of siding with the BJP. AICC in-charge for J&K Rajani Patil has said that Azad’s new party would be the ‘B-Team’ of the BJP.
Senior Congress leader Tariq Hameed Karra also questioned the timing of Azad’s resignation that came a day after Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed security in J&K. However, Dr Farooq Abdullah has said that the doors of his party are open for an electoral alliance with Azad.
BJP leaders here were justifying Azad quitting the Congress. BJP chief Ravinder Raina described Azad a towering personality who, he said, did not get due respect in the Congress party, which will soon ‘vanish from the political scene of the country.’
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