Jammu and Kashmir: BJP Using Raj Bhawan for ‘Rotation of Seats’, Says Congress

Jammu, December 15: The Jammu and Kashmir Congress Friday lashed out at the BJP claiming it failed to fulfil its promise of implementing delimitation of Assembly constituencies and was now allegedly using the governor's office for rotation of seats. "The BJP utterly failed to fulfill its much talked about commitment of delimitation (of constituencies in J&K)," Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Chief Gulam Ahmed Mir told reporters here Friday.

Mir chaired a meeting of senior leaders to take stock of the current issues and the latest political development in the country and in the state. Ahead of the 2014 assembly polls, the BJP had been batting strongly for delimitation of constituencies in J&K. The Kuldip Singh Commission initiated the delimitation exercise in the country in 2002. The BJP-led NDA government, which had appointed the commission, had agreed with other political parties at that time that Jammu and Kashmir should be exempt from the delimitation process. "Now they (BJP) are trying to target the opposition strongholds through half-baked move of rotation for fear of losing seats, through the institution of Governor," he said. Jammu and Kashmir: Fax Machine at Raj Bhawan Still Broken, Attempts to Send Letter to Governor Fails, Says Omar Abdullah.

The institution of Governor should take on board all stakeholders, especially the mainstream parties on all major policy decisions, Mir said. Last year, the state government had decided to rotate seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Mir congratulated Congress President Rahul Gandhi for the party's Assembly poll victories in three major states -- Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.