New Delhi, August 7
While the UPA government is preparing to send a 15-member all-party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, it has rejected the BJP demand for direct intervention by the Centre in finding a solution to the ongoing agitation in the state.

The delegation will be led by home minister Shivraj Patil, who has asked all parties to send in names of their nominees.

UPA sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed that channels of communication ought to be opened with the agitators but wanted this matter to be first dealt by the state on the plea that Governor N.N.Vohra was the Centre’s representative in J&K. BJP leader L.K. Advani rang up the Prime Minister today to draw his attention to the deteriorating situation in J-K and asked him to ensure direct intervention by the Centre.

The decision to send such a delegation was taken at the all-party convened yesterday by the Prime Minister where the BJP had scaled down its earlier rhetoric after it was isolated by the other political leaders for backing the violent protests which have polarised the sensitive border state on communal and regional lines.

The all-party delegation is expected to travel to Srinagar and then proceed to Jammu for a dialogue with those leading the ongoing agitation which is showing no signs of abating.

Former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had told yesterday’s meeting that the land being demanded by the agitators for the Amarnath Shrine Board had never been allotted but was to be given temporarily to the board for two months to construct temporary structures for the pilgrims. Azad also explained that this responsibility had now been entrusted to the tourism department, and the government had drawn up elaborate plans for provision of facilities to the yatris.

Azad’s explanations, however, have not cut any ice with the BJP, which has decided to continue with its agitation in Jammu. Despite this setback, the Prime Minister struck an optimistic note today, saying the all-party meeting was a good beginning and hoped to build on it.