Centre should correct anamoly in JK by delimitation: Venkaiah

New Delhi, Aug 13 (UNI) Taking a strong view on the Jammu and Kashmir situation, the BJP today demanded the Centre to undertake delimitation exercises to set right the anamoly seen in three regions of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said the blatant discrimination against Jammu and Leh and Ladakh regions in terms of number of Assembly seats in Kashmir valley and Jammu regions needs to be corrected like any other state in the country.

Revealing the statistics of votes and seats in different regions of JK, he said the state's total votes were 56,12,149, of which Jammu accounted for 28,92,290 followed by Kashmir valley which had 25,46,913 votes and 1,72,000 for Leh and Ladakh region.

Geographically too, Jammu had 26,000 sq km of terroritory compared to 15,000 sq km of Kashmir Valley.

Despite such a reality Kashmir valley could elect 46 MLAs and three Lok Sabha members while Jammu could only represent 37 MLAs and two Lok Sabha members, he said.

The Government should take measures to use delimitation to remove the feeling of discrimination and neglect in Jammu which was bigger than Kashmir geographically as well as demographically, the leader said.

Delimitation, as is happening in other states, should happen in JK also to correct the abnormality. Parliament should address this issue, he said.

On the opposition to provide infrastructure to Amarnath pilgrims in Kashmir valley, Mr Naidu said the attitude of Centre was basically responsible for the people of Kashmir region to take such a stand. The Congress had not learnt anything from the past, especially in a matter concerning sensitive part of the the Valley, he added.

Mr Naidu also emphasised that instead of giving tough legislative support to the police and courts to counter terrorism, the National Security Advisor had conceded that there were 800 terror modules supported by external forces and the Centre not only repealed the POTA after the UPA assumed office four years ago, but was sleeping over the anti-terror laws passed in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

He also accused the government of being tight-lipped on the demand for bringing parity in the minimum support price offered for wheat and paddy without taking any decision.

To a question about the BJP ending its boycott against CNN-IBN in the light of the channel telecasting the sting operation concerning cash for vote scandal allegedly shot a day ahead of the July 22 Trust Vote, Mr Naidu said the channel had taken nearly over 25 days to take a decision. "We assure to take a decision in less time than your channel took to decide to telecast the tape", he replied.

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