Jammu: BJP general secretary Satish Poonia on Thursday dismissed the Jammu and Kashmir government’s argument that the dual power arrangement had hindered the fulfillment of its promises, saying its performance should be judged by results, not such explanations.
Poonia, the BJP in-charge of J&K here for a high-level party meeting, also dismissed allegations that the BJP was responsible for the failure to hold panchayat and local body elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
“It is for the government to decide how it wants to explain this, because it received the mandate, came to power and made the commitments. How many promises it fulfilled and how many it failed to deliver cannot be explained away. What matters is the outcome and the results,” he told reporters before the party meeting.
“The people of Jammu and Kashmir are well aware of the results of these two years,” Poonia said, replying to a question about the government’s claims that the dual-power arrangement — the elected National Conference-led government and the Lt Governor administration — prevented it from fulfilling the promises it had made during the past two years.
Poonia said the government had received the people’s mandate, assumed power and made commitments, adding that its performance should be judged by the results rather than explanations.
With the government blaming the BJP for failure to hold panchayat elections, he said “How are we (BJP)responsible? The tradition of holding elections under the Panchayati Raj system in Jammu and Kashmir was initiated by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the party also followed it very effectively.”
He said that the District Development Council (DDC) elections were held for the first time during the BJP’s regime. “Therefore, such allegations are baseless.”
On the BJP’s organisational meetings, including meetings of its various cells, Poonia said the party had received a good mandate in Jammu and Kashmir after a long time.
He said the BJP was committed to working for the prosperity and development of Jammu and Kashmir, citing the governance model of the Narendra Modi government.
“The construction of the Chenab Rail Bridge, the operation of Vande Bharat trains and the benefits of schemes such as Ujjwala and Ayushman Bharat reaching the people of Jammu and Kashmir are examples of this governance model. This demonstrates our commitment to working for the prosperity of Kashmir,” he said.