SRINAGAR: As electioneering intensifies for the first Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Jammu, the BJP’s stronghold in the Union Territory, on 14 September to address two election rallies.
A BJP leader confirmed that PM Modi’s visit to Jammu for the election campaign has been finalised.
“He will undertake a day-long visit to Jammu on 14 September. The Prime Minister will address two election rallies in the Jammu region, including one in Doda district on the same day,” he said. The Jammu region has long been a bastion for the BJP, which won all 25 of its seats in the 2014 Assembly polls in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state from this region.
The BJP now faces a formidable challenge in its stronghold from the rejuvenated Congress, whose vote share increased by 5-10% in the recently held Lok Sabha polls despite losing both seats. A BJP leader indicated that PM Modi’s rallies in the Jammu region will boost the morale of party workers and galvanise the party’s support base in the area.
He noted that the Prime Minister is highly popular in Jammu and Kashmir and his election campaign will undoubtedly benefit the BJP and its candidates.
The Prime Minister is expected to hold over half a dozen election rallies during the three-phase J&K polls. “It is quite likely that he will also address a rally in Kashmir. The schedule for these rallies is currently being finalised.”
“The Prime Minister has the potential to sway voters towards the BJP, and in this election, every vote is crucial,” he added. The BJP’s focus remains on the Jammu region, which holds 43 seats in the 90-member J&K Assembly.
The BJP is contesting all the seats in the Jammu region and aims to replicate its 2014 performance, when it won 25 out of 37 seats in the region.
The Assembly polls, which will be the first such election after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile J&K state into two Union Territories by the Centre on 5 August 2019, are regarded as a referendum by the parties. Even BJP leaders acknowledge that “this is not an ordinary election but a very significant poll in which every seat counts”.
Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a poll rally in Jammu on Saturday, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed another rally in Ramban district of Jammu province on Sunday.
The party will deploy 40 star campaigners, including the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Defence Minister, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and other Union ministers and BJP leaders for the election campaign in J&K.
Banned Jamaat holds first election rally
Signalling changing times, banned Jamaat-e-Islami, which had been calling for poll boycott and staying away from elections over three decades of militancy in J&K, on Sunday held its first election rally since 1987 in south Kashmir’s Kulgam. The Jamaat, which has been banned under UAPA, had a show in Bugam of Kulgam.