"Hold Elections In Jammu And Kashmir If...": Congress Leader To BJP

Congress leader Ambika Soni today hit out at the BJP, saying it should hold elections in the newly carved union territory Jammu and Kashmir, if it felt the decisions taken by it were democratic and the situation normal.

Ms Soni was in Jammu to consult the state party leadership on the nationwide agitation against the "economic crisis" and said the demand for the restoration of the statehood would be the bottom line for the protests in the Jammu region.

In a reference to the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, she asked, "How many promises have been fulfilled after the decisions was taken three months ago."

Ms Soni, who was accompanied by senior party leaders, including the party's Jammu and Kashmir president GA Mir, said people were under detention and based on her personal experience after landing here on Tuesday, she didn't see the internet functioning.

"If the situation is normal, how long will you keep the former chief ministers detained? If you have taken a democratic decision, why you don't take the opinion of people by holding elections?

"It was done after lending ear to misconceptions (created about Jammu and Kashmir)," she said.

Asked whether she supported elections before the restoration of the statehood, the Congress leader said, "My willingness does not matter."

"We had a meeting of senior party colleagues and activists this morning and we are meeting again later in the afternoon. What I have learnt is that people are very disturbed as it has happened for the first time in the history of our country that a state was bifurcated into UTs," she said.

Ms Soni said she was informed that people were "feeling humiliated" and "very concerned" about their future as the decisions with regard to J-K were taken in an "undemocratic way without taking them into confidence".