BJP criticises denial of US visa to its JK leader

Jammu, Jun 25: Lashing out at US authorities for denial of visa to its leader Jitendra Singh, the J-K unit of BJP today (Jun 25) claimed that "no valid reason" was offered by the American embassy for its action.

"We seek reason for denial of visa by US Embassy to Dr Singh who is known for his nationalist credentials and was one of the members of the BJP delegation that was invited to Washington by Republican Party of America and International Republican Institute," state BJP President Shamsher Singh Manhas told reporters here today.

Flanked by Singh, who is party's national executive member, and state general secretary Satish Sharma, Manhas also criticised the UPA government and the Congress-NC coalition government in the state.

He said that the central leadership of the party will ask the US Embassy "to provide it with the list of BJP leaders who are unwelcome to that country because in the case of both Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi earlier and Jitendra Singh now, no valid reason was offered for denial of visa".

"While separatist Kashmir leaders like Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were provided all facility by the state and central governments to travel abroad despite a number of criminal and sedition cases pending against them, national leaders from BJP were not allowed to travel abroad," he said.

PTI