Hours after the killing of two National Conference activists in old Srinagar, Bharatiya Janta Party asked its candidates not to leave the secure places allotted to them by the government.
“We have asked the candidates to be extra vigilant,” BJP general secretary (Organizations) Ashok Kaul told Kashmir Post.
He condemned the killing of NC workers and termed it “unfortunate”.
Kaul dismissed reports saying BJP candidates had resigned from the party or withdrawn from the contest.
“Nobody is back tracking, these are rumours,” he said, adding that in the prevailing Kashmir situation candidates and political activists have to take care of themselves.
On Thursday BJP in-charge for Dooru-Verinag area and nine other candidates of the party withdrew their nominations for the upcoming civic polls.
They have blamed the party for “deceiving people by making fake promises. “Nine other BJP members who were contesting the elections from nine other wards also withdrew their nominations,” official sources have said.
BJP is likely to walk away with majority of municipal seats in southern Kashmir as major political parties have boycotted polls.
Meanwhile, BJP state spokesman Altaf Thakur said militancy in Kashmir was the outcome of election rigging committed by National Conference in 1987
“It is because of that very mistake that generation after generation of Kashmiri youth have been suffering,” he said.
