National Conference Provincial President Devender Singh Rana on Monday stressed that empowered elected regional councils under the umbrella of the state hold the key to satiate distinct aspirations of the people.

Addressing party activists, Rana said this will not only isolate elements inimical to single entity of Jammu and Kashmir but also help in building and further strengthening the trust.

“A clear road map has been drawn in this regard in the regional autonomy document formulated by the National Conference,” Rana said.

He said decentralization of power has been the political philosophy of National Conference which had immensely manifested in the revolutionary single line administration during the tenure of Sheikh Abdullah and was a nationally acclaimed step towards fulfilling local urges and aspirations of different segments of people.

Rana cautioned the people against the “machinations” of the BJP which in the wake of letting down people of Jammu and being rejected by them is trying to divide the people on regional and religious lines. He said the people of Jammu are within their rights in asking the BJP of their achievements during their three-and-half-year “misrule.” They did not only fail the Jammu region but also raised hands as far as governance was concerned.

The Provincial President said the treachery of the BJP will continue to haunt the people of Jammu who had reposed their unflinching faith and support to it with the hope that Jammu may perhaps get a better deal as, during the days of its wilderness in the opposition, the BJP leaders were crying hoarse over discrimination and neglect. Instead of showing grit to do something on the ground for the people of Jammu, he charged the BJP for reversing some of the prestigious projects launched during the tenure of Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister for putting the Jammu region on an equal pedestal of development.

Rana ridiculed the BJP for pretending to be the self-styled messiah of the Jammu region and asked what it has delivered during its tenure except flaunting aggressive nationalism.

The people had mandated the party for ‘Ache-Din’ and what they got in return is just a nightmare and ‘good fortunes’ for the BJP leaders, he added.