Srinagar: Jammu & Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) Monday said that BJP has started “influencing our leaders” ahead of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
It maintained that the party will “stand like a wall against the saffron party and it’s ideology, and will not allow them to succeed in their ill-will designs.”
Talking to reporters, Apni Party spokesperson Muntazir Mohi-ud-Din alleged that BJP has started influencing “our party leaders to join the ranks of saffron party” ahead of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Since the inception, we were being labeled as A & B teams of BJP. We already clarified that neither we were associated with the saffron party in the past, nor is there any chance of merging with them in future. This party is influencing our leaders ahead of assembly elections. We want to ask those who dub us proxies of BJP, if we are their (BJP’s) front, then why are they taking away our leaders ahead of regional elections?
“We have always been against BJP and its ideology, and it is why they are engineering ill-will designs against us,” party spokesperson told reporters.
On ECI’s announcement about J&K Assembly elections, he said that Apni Party was the first to thank the poll body for announcing polls, though it happened very late.
“Apni Party welcomes ECI’s announcement. We are satisfied that we will reach out to people as they are well aware when Article 370 and 35-A were taken away which jeopardized our land and job rights, it was Apni Party which met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and flagged the concerns of the people of Jammu & Kashmir vociferously. We took a stand then and made it clear that people of J&K are the dwellers of this country, so their rights shouldn’t be tinkered with,” he claimed.
Claiming that Apni Party “ensured protection of land and job rights”, and the “seats of MD and DM were kept reserved for locals only”, party spokesperson also claimed “we brought 3000 prisoners out of jails, and fought for release of Er Rashid.
“We believe in truth and we speak. We hope the people of J&K will not ignore the struggle we did for the betterment of J&K and its people. We are hopeful that people will vote for us in large numbers in the forthcoming Assembly elections and make our party successful,” he said.
