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Friday,
February 8, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Minister
backs BJP candidate in Jammu Hurriyat
meeting inconclusive
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Minister backs BJP candidate in Jammu Jammu, February 7 Hitherto, Professor Gupta had been watching the lacklustre BJP pre-poll campaign from the sidelines because he had been ignored when the party high command decided to field Dr Nirmal Singh. Not only this, the RSS-backed BJP lobby had been campaigning against Professor Gupta which hurt him. Party sources said after much persuasion by a senior party leader, Mr O.P. Kohli, who is also in charge of the party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, Professor Gupta agreed to put his weight behind Dr Nirmal Singh in the interests of the party. Since Professor Gupta may not be able to address pre-poll rallies, he is said to have asked his supporters to work for the BJP candidate’s success. However, an effective campaign launched by the Congress despite the loss of support from Mr Janak Raj Gupta, who rejoined the National Conference, the AICC-General Secretary, Ms Mohsina Kidwai, party observer, Mr Sat Mahajan, a senior Congress leader from Himachal, PCC chief, Mr Mohammad Shafi Qureshi, and senior party leader, Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, have visited various areas in the constituency for mobilising support for the Congress candidate, Mr Madan Lal Sharma. Reconciliation between the dissidents and the loyalists has added to the strength of the Congress. Still it is not going to be easy for it to dethrone either the BJP or the National Conference. Talking to newsmen here today, Ms Kidwai claimed that after touring several areas in Poonch and Rajouri, she found the entire belt witnessing a Congress wave. She alleged that on the one hand the National Conference misused the government machinery for its pre-poll campaign, on the other security guards had been withdrawn from senior Congress leaders. Ms Kidwai said the BJP-NC nexus had added to the problems of the people. She said that growth of militancy in the Jammu region had been the result of misrule of the National Conference since 1996. She said it was unfortunate that both the NC government in the state and the BJP-led Central Government had failed to come to the rescue of border migrants who were leading a miserable life in makeshift camps. While blaming the Sangh parivar, especially the RSS, for pursuing a two-nation theory, Ms Kidwai said the BJP had joined hands with the NC simply to weaken the Congress in Jammu and Kashmir. In support of her contention, she said the NC fielded a Muslim candidate simply to divide the Congress vote bank. In reply to a question, she said the Congress would approach the Election Commission for taking suitable steps to prevent the National Conference from rigging the election. |
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Hurriyat meeting inconclusive
Srinagar, February 7 The amalgam had recently decided to hold elections in three phases in Jammu and Kashmir and the PoK to elect what it called true representatives of the people who could later represent it in the tripartite talks to resolve the Kashmir issue. No formal press release was issued by the Hurriyat Conference at the end of the meeting. However, executive council member Moulana Abbas Ansari told UNI after the meeting that it was inconclusive. “Since it was a very big decision, it cannot be taken in one meeting,” he said and added that the meeting also discussed other issues, including atrocities by security forces and arrest of Hurryat leaders. Answering a question, he said the decision about the selection of the election commission would be taken by the Hurriyat Conference in the near future. Those who attended today’s meeting were Chairman Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, former Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Moulvi Abbas Ansari and Mohammad Yaseen Malik. Ghulam Nabi Zaki and Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar represented former Chairman Moulvi Omar Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone who are in Delhi, while Khlil Ahmad Khalil represented Sheikh Abdul Aziz, at present under detention.
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