“Day-dreaming is not a bad thing…”: BJP’s Kavinder Gupta slams National Conference for ‘misleading’ people over Article 370

Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], August 18 (ANI): Senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta on Sunday slammed the regional parties in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, accusing them of “straying” people in the name of Article 370.

He was responding to reported remarks of former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that “a resolution will be passed in the assembly” against the centre’s decision to strip the region of its statehood and special status if the National Conference formed the government in the Union Territory.

Gupta told ANI, “Day-dreaming is not a bad thing… They have been straying people since the abrogation of the Article 370. But nothing happened. People have rejected their kind of shopkeeping regarding Article 370 in Kashmir. That is why both the former Chief Ministers were defeated (in the recent Lok Sabha elections)”.

He was referring to Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who lost the parliament polls from the Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri seats respectively.

Gupta expressed hope that the BJP will emerge as the biggest party in the assembly elections scheduled to be held in the third week of September in the Union Territory.

“”…The election process has started… The process of selection for candidates will also be held in the coming days… The central leadership is here and various topics will be discussed. Since it is an election committee meeting, they will meet everyone… We are in election mode, we hope that the elections conclude properly and the BJP emerges as the biggest party…” the BJP leader told ANI.

The polling in the UT will be held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, as per the Election Commission of India. The counting of the votes will take place on October 4.

The election body has directed the agencies to be impartial and transparent for smooth and fair polling, ensuring a level playing field.

There are a total of 90 assembly constituencies, of which 74 are general, nine are ST, and seven are SC. There are 87.09 lakh total electors, including 44.46 lakh are male, 42.62 lakh are female, 169 are transgender, 82,590 PwDs, 73943 are very senior citizens, 2660 are centenarians, 76092 are service electors, and 3.71 lakh are first-time voters.

Jammu and Kashmir will witness elections after a gap of 10 years, as the last assembly election was held in 2014. The PDP-BJP coalition government fell in June 2018 when the latter withdrew support to the then-Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti.

In December of last year, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to conclude the election process by September 30, 2024.