The Centre on Saturday extended an invitation to National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and other top political leaders of Jammu & Kashmir for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24.
Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla reached out to all 14 political leaders of the erstwhile state for the meeting and asked them to present a Covid-19 negative report, officials said.The meeting will take place in the national capital at the Prime Minister’s residence and is being held to discuss the future course of action for the union territory, the officials added.
Besides Abdullah and Mufti, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, four former deputy chief ministers of the erstwhile state — Congress leader Tara Chand, People’s Conference leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig, and BJP leaders Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta — have been invited to the meet.
CPM leader Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) chief Altaf Bukhari, Sajjad Lone of the People’s Conference, J&K Congress head G A Mir, BJP’s Ravidner Raina, and Panthers Party leader Bhim Singh have also been invited.
TOI had reported that the meeting will be seen as a bid to move the political process in the UT after a gradual easing of restrictions on the internet and detention of political leaders.
The agenda ahead includes completion of the delimitation exercise and holding of assembly elections for the installation of a government.
Union home minister Amit Shah had reviewed the situation in the sensitive Union Territory on Friday, sparking speculation about a possible political initiative.
The meeting will be the first such gathering since the Centre announced the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and its bifurcation into union territories in August 2019.
Home minister Amit Shah and other central leaders may also be in attendance.
The political mainstream of the union territory, especially those having a strong base in Kashmir Valley, have been critical of successive administrations of the union territory for neglecting the demands of the people and raising questions on the development slogan raised post August 2019.
The mainstream parties formed an umbrella outfit called the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, which includes the NC and PDP.
NC, PDP, Congress to decide on attending meet
Meanwhile, the National Conference, PDP, Congress and the CPM on Saturday said they will take a call on attending a meeting after deliberations within their respective parties.
The PDP will hold a meeting on Sunday to discuss the invitation, party president Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday.
Mehbooba told PTI, “There is no clear-cut agenda about the talks with New Delhi. However, I have asked my party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) for a meeting to discuss the same.”
The last chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, who had an alliance government with the BJP from 2016 to 2018, she said that the decision of whether to participate in the talks would be taken by the party.
“There is no agenda for the meeting but I was conveyed that the meeting is being called to review the general situation and how to take the political process forward. There is no clear-cut agenda,” Mehbooba said.
A National Conference (NC) leader told PTI, “The party president (Farooq Abdullah) received a phone call from Delhi today, inviting him for the meeting with the Prime Minister on June 24.”
He said the party will sit and discuss the invitation to the meeting over the course of the next couple of days.
“To participate or not in the meeting is a matter of discussion. The party leadership will sit soon and discuss the issue. But, at least, there is a realisation in Delhi now and this meeting is a good thing. Dialogue and democracy go hand to hand in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said its chief G A Mir has also received an invitation for the meeting.
“The party shall take a view on the issue of participation in consultation with senior leadership in a couple of days,” Sharma said.
Another invitee, senior CPM leader M Y Tarigami, said he would discuss the issue of the participation in the meeting with his party before taking a final call on it.
The CPM leader, who is also the spokesman of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), said the meeting is scheduled at 3 pm on June 24.
Surjitt sahani
