Flag yatra: Chidambaram speaks to Jaitley, Omar

In an bid to defuse tension, Home Minister P Chidambaram Monday spoke to BJP leader Arun Jaitley and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah after J&K authorities stopped BJP leaders at Jammu airport.

New Delhi: In an bid to defuse tension, Home
Minister P Chidambaram Monday spoke to BJP leader Arun Jaitley
and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah after J&K authorities stopped
BJP leaders at Jammu airport ahead of a planned hoisting of
tricolour in Srinagar`s Lal Chowk on Republic Day.

Chidambaram phoned Omar and took stock of the situation
arising out of the arrival of Jaitley and party colleagues
Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar at the Jammu airport and the
decision of local authorities not to allow them to enter the
city, sources said.

The Chief Minister told the Home Minister that the two
top BJP leaders would not be allowed to attend a public rally
in Jammu as part of the BJP`s controversial `Ekta Yatra`.

Following Chidambaram`s request, Omar agreed to send
state Chief Secretary SS Kapoor and DGP Kuldip Khoda to talk
to Jaitley and Swaraj and persuade them to abandon their plan.

In his conversation with Jaitley, Chidambaram requested
him to respect the wishes of the Chief Minister and return to
Delhi to defuse tension in the state, they said.

Efforts are also being made to allow Jaitley and Swaraj
to speak to a small group of people and a few journalists
before their return to the national capital, the sources said.

PTI

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