New Delhi:

Jammu and Kashmir will get its statehood but there seems to be some small print involved, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav indicated today. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, the leader who was in charge of the Union Territory, said the BJP has committed to a return of statehood “on the floor of the House”.

But asked about a time frame for it, he said, “You remember one thing. Jammu Kashmir has travelled a lot of distance in the last 5 to 10 years. It gave up its terror-based identity, it is a very peaceful state in terms of separatism… even Jamaat has joined the electoral process. That is a very big achievement. But those in power in the state should be reassuring the people in Delhi that they won’t bring those tendencies back into this region. Then full statehood is possible”.

“There are people who are demanding the release of all terrorists in jail, demanding restoration of Article 370. With that kind of attitude, if they go to the assembly and then statehood — how to release terrorists and separatists and all? That becomes problematic for the larger national security issues,” he said. “But we are favour of the UT getting statehood sooner rather than later,” he added.

The National Conference of Omar Abdullah and ally Congress have come to power in Jammu and Kashmir winning 49 of 90 seats. Both parties had made restoration of statehood their big election promise. It is a promise that was also reiterated by the BJP, but going by the results, the Valley appeared unconvinced.

The BJP had won 29 seats, all of them in the Jammu region.

In an interview with NDTV earlier today, Omar Abdullah, the leader most likely to be the Chief Minister of J&K had said he was willing to set aside the question of Article 370 and set up a working relationship with the Centre.

Asked to respond to this, Mr Madhav said Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not discriminate between states or consider which party is in power. ‘We would certainly work for the good of the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added. 

New Delhi:

The BJP on Tuesday appointed its former national general secretary Ram Madhav and Union minister G Kishan Reddy as in-charge for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

A statement to this effect was issued by party national general secretary Arun Singh here.

“BJP national president JP Nadda has appointed Ram Madhav, former national general secretary, and Union minister G Kishan Reddy as election in-charge for upcoming assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.

“This appointment comes into effect immediately,” the statement said.

Mr Madhav served as BJP national general secretary during 2014-20 period. He was responsible for handling the political affairs of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and other Northeastern states.

In a reshuffle on September 26, 2020, the BJP dropped Mr Madhav and several other general secretaries to bring in new faces in its team. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)