Ex-IPS Officer Basant Rath enrolls as BJP Activist Online; Party stresses Zero Tolerance for Indiscipline

Ex-IPS Officer Basant Rath enrolls as BJP Activist Online; Party stresses Zero Tolerance for Indiscipline

His wish to contest election against Omar Abdullah of the National Conference or Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on a BJP ticket Days after the central government ordered his premature retirement, former IPS officer Basant Rath on Thursday registered himself as a BJP activist online and sought blessings of people for what he called an “uphill trek called politics”. The IGP-rank officer, who was under suspension for the past over three years for “repeated instances of gross misconduct and misbehavior”, was given premature retirement by the government…

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PDP, BJP still in alliance in J&K: National Conference

National Conference on Wednesday lashed out at Peoples Democratic Party saying that the party was still in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and hand-in-glove to influence the polls by “deceit and deception.”Senior National Conference (NC) leaders, in a joint statement, said: “We have credible information about PDP soliciting the advice and direction of the BJP for fielding candidates, convenient to it, for Jammu-Poonch and Kathua-Udhampur parliamentary constituencies to facilitate division of anti-BJP votes in order to ensuring the victory of BJP candidates.” The NC leaders said that the…

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PDP, Congress in war of words over granting divisional status to Ladakh

The Congress and PDP on Tuesday accused each other of ‘communalising’ the proposed move of the state administration to grant divisional status to Ladakh and the demand raised by PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to impart similar status to the Pir Panjal and Chenab valley region. Senior Congress leader Dr Karan Singh alleged that Mehbooba Mufti was trying to divide the Jammu region on communal lines while PDP spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir said the veteran Congress leader “seems to be playing to the gallery”. “Mehboobaji’s attempt to link this (Ladakh) matter…

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Mandir-Masjid politics rejected by people: NC, PDP, Congress

The National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress Tuesday said the results in the assembly polls to five states have shown that political awakening is on the rise in the country as people have rejected the communal politics. “People rejected Mandir-Masjid politics, results show political awakening on rise in India,” the PDP quoted its president Mehbooba Mufti as saying on its Twitter handle. She was referring to the loss of BJP, which was an ally of the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir government till June this year, in the…

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PDP, Congress, NC ganged up on Pakistan direction to keep BJP at bay: Kavinder Gupta

Former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta said on Wednesday that the Peoples Democratic Party, Congress and the National Conference were joining hands to form a government in the state at Pakistan’s behest. He made the comments before the dissolution of the Assembly by Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday evening. “The three parties are ganging up to form a government in the state at Pakistan’s directions to keep the BJP away from power,” he said in a press conference. Gupta, who served as the Legislative Assembly Speaker and later as…

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PDP, Congress and NC appear to be joining hands to form a coalition govt?

In a potentially far-reaching realignment of political forces in Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP, Congress and the National Conference appear to be joining hands to form a coalition government, sources in the three parties indicated Tuesday. The state is currently under Governor’s rule which cannot be extended after it completed its six-month period on December 19. It is proposed to impose President’s rule thereafter but the 87-member assembly is not being dissolved, according to Governor Satyapal Mallik. The government headed by the Peoples Democratic Party’s Mehbooba Mufti fell when its…

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PDP, NC activists intimidating BJP candidates: Ram Madhav

Ram Madhav, BJP national general secretary, on Friday said like separatists and terror groups, activists of the PDP and the National Conference (NC) were also intimidating candidates filing nominations for the civic bodies elections in the Valley. “We have received information from different parts of Kashmir that PDP and NC workers have threatened BJP activists who filed nominations for the civic bodies elections,” Madhav, who was in Srinagar on Thursday, told mediapersons here. “We have already lodged complaints with the police in this regard and investigation has been initiated,” he…

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Despite poll boycott, PDP, NC field proxy candidates

The duplicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) has been exposed as both the parties have fielded proxy candidates from a majority of the 247 wards of 15 urban local bodies going to the polls in the first phase across the Jammu region. This has happened despite the PDP and NC announcing a boycott of civic bodies elections in the state over Article 35A of the Constitution. While second-rung leaders of the two parties are contesting elections as Independents in most wards, some top leaders have…

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NC, Cong, PDP, BJP and 3 Guv-rule spells couldn’t build a 2.5 km flyover

The governments of all four major political parties of the State – National Conference (NC) and Congress, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – and the three spells of Governor’s rule have together failed to build a 2.5 km Ram Bagh-Jehangir Chowk flyover. Despite the added emphasis of the subsequent State governments as well as New Delhi on development and good governance, even after five years of its inauguration, more than 60 percent of the work on the flyover is pending. The project started in…

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PDP, Congress disown slain political worker in Kashmir; Omar Abdullah tweets ‘let’s just call him a NC worker’

A former Congress and PDP leader Ghulam Nabi Patel died few minutes on way to the hospital in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district soon after suspected militants suddenly appeared in front of his Scorpio vehicle and fired multiple shots, two of them hitting his face on Wednesday. His son and two security personnel were also injured in the attack. But ironically enough Patel, 67, a resident of Dangerpora Shadimarg on Pulwama-Shopian border in south Kashmir, who worked for different mainstream political parties in the Valley and was ostracised for the same…

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