BJP for abrogation of article 370 in J

Jammu, June 15 (UNI) The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) today reiterated its demand for the abrogation of article 370 of the constitution in Jammu and Kashmir and offered its support to the Congress-led UPA government in the centre, if a resolution to this effect was brought in the parliament.

The former Union Minister and BJP senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi, while addressing reporters here said that serious thought must be given to the abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, to solve the Kashmir tangle, and for an end to terrorism in the state.

When asked why the former NDA government did not take any steps in this direction, he said, we are a coalition government which was formed on a Common Mminimum Programme(CMP). Further, we had no majority in the government to force the issue out of the ambit of CMP.

To a question as to whether the present government at the Centre also had a coalition charactor and whether the Congress might face a similar situation as the BJP had in the previouse government, Mr Joshi said, the party will support the Congress if the latter brings a resolution on the abrogation of article 370.

The BJP stalwart was here in connection with the party's nine-day long Satyagraha on 'Save Doda-Save Nation', which concluded here today. He addressed the gathering of party leaders and workers came from Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Daman, Diu, Silvasa and courted arrest alongwith them near the civil secretariat.

Accusing the centre of adopting soft policies and a lacklustre attitude towards terrorism, the BJP veteran leader said the terror outfits on the instruction of thier mentors sitting across the border, are targetting minorities with an aim of ethnic cleansing in the state.

A conspiracy is being hatched so that there would not be any nationalist in the state to support India so that Pakistan could easily take the issue of plebiscite in uno again, he asserted.

Mr Joshi said the party is alert on the conspiracy and will never let it happen. He denied that the party's Satyagraha was anyway politically motivated and came heavily on the Centre that because of its lacklustre approach, the situation in the North East has also worsened with speedy demographic changes.

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