BJP not to participate in round table conference

Jammu, May 23 (UNI) The BJP today turned down Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's invitation to participate in the Second Round Table Conference scheduled to begin in Srinagar tomorrow, saying it could not ''compromise with its ideology.'' Addressing a press conference here, state unit president Dr Nirmal Singh and vice president Prof Hari Om said they had turned down the PM's invitation and would not participate in the conclave.

''We have taken this decision in view of the recent developments in the state, particularly the killing of Hindus in Doda and Udhampur and two grenade attacks on a BJP rally in Doda,'' Dr Nirmal Singh said, adding that ''if the people are not safe in any corner of the state, there is no meaning of a round table conference or the peace process.'' ''The whole exercise is nothing but only an effort by the Congress to gain political mileages,'' he claimed.

Charging the Prime Minister with exhibiting an ''indifferent attitude to our well-reasoned demand that he should postpone the proposed RTC and, instead, visit Doda, Udhampur and the victims of terror who are languishing in these areas,'' he said both the Centre and the state government have not taken any step whatsoever to ensure the safety and security of the Hindu minority in Doda and Udhampur as well as failing to meet any of the demands of the protesting Hindus.

''The Congress, instead of sharing the grief of the members of the bereaved families and helping the victims of terror, has unleashed a minsiformation campaign to hoodwink the minority Hindus and tarnish the image of BJP, which has made common cause with the victims of militancy,'' the BJP chief said.

He said that despite the BJP's repeated pleas, the Congres-led UPA government at the centre continued to adopt a soft approach to the terrorists, separatists and votaries of self-rule and autonomy.

''The Prime Minister has also failed to make the stand of his government clear on the resolve on the unanimous resolution in Parliament that the only dispute between India and Pakistan, which still remains to be decided is the political future of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including Gilgit and Baltistan, which are under the illegal occupation of Pakistan,'' he said.

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