Releasing the party’s assembly election manifesto, Apni Party general secretary Rafi Ahmad Mir on Wednesday said “we have nothing to do with the BJP” but our opponents have succeeded in making the people believe that we are the ‘B-team’ of the saffron party.

“Neither we were and nor we are part of the BJP”, he told media persons while replying to a question whether the proximity of Apni Party with BJP had backfired during the recent Lok Sabha elections when all three candidates of the party badly lost in Kashmir.

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Mir said that soon after the formation of the Apni Party by Altaf Bukhari, we went to Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in broad daylight. We demanded immediate release of all political prisoners and leaders. Opposition party leaders, including us, Sajad Lone, PDP, Tarigami and others were present in the all parties meeting that the PM convened, but we have been dubbed as ‘B-team’ of the BJP.

The Apni Party manifesto promises to press the Centre for constitutional guarantees to preserve culture and the special identity of Jammu and Kashmir, and to work for the restoration of statehood of the Union territory.

“The Apni Party will press for constitutional guarantees to preserve the culture and special identity of Jammu and Kashmir, similar to the provisions of Article 371 in some north-eastern states. This includes land and job protection, addressing the people’s sense of loss,” the manifesto read.

The party said it will work tirelessly to restore statehood as promised by the Union Home Minister on August 5, 2019. It also promised the restoration of repealed and amended laws.

It also promised to provide 500 units of free power per month per household in Kashmir during winter (October to March) and in Jammu during summer (April to September).

The Apni Party will provide four free LPG cylinder refills annually to every BPL and AAY family, it also added.

”We will vigorously seek the reinstatement of a bicameral legislature, comprising both a Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, as existed before August 5, 2019”, the manifesto said.

We will ensure the establishment of a fast-track board to review and dispose of cases for those languishing in jails under the Public Safety Act (PSA) even after their imprisonment terms have expired.

Meanwhile, the Apni Party released the first list of its 8 candidates for the south Kashmir seats where the party’s Tariq Shah Veeri will fight the election against PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti.

The other candidates are; Rafi Ahmad Mir (Pahalgam), Hilal Ahmad Shah (Anantnag), Abdul Majeed Padder (DH-Pora), Riyaz Ahmad Bhat (Devsar), Gowhar Hassan Wani (Zainpora), Mir Altaf (Pampore) and Owais Khan (Shopian).