Jammu, Sept 19: Rejecting the demand for re-organisation of Jammu and Kashmir and creation of a separate Jammu state, Union Minister for Coal and Mines Uma Bharti today said that setting up of regional councils could end discrimination against certain regions in the state.
"It is wrong time to talk about a separate state of Jammu as the issue needs a debate whether it is in the national interest or not," she said addressing a BJP election rally at Akhnoor, 30 km from here.
The people of Jammu and Ladakh regions got alienated because of discriminatory attitude of the present and previous governments in the state, she alleged. "Not only those in Jammu and Ladakh, but even people in Kashmir were denied their due share." Bharti accused the Farooq Abdullah government of "diverting the central funds worth crores of rupees to benefit their own people.” Making a scathing attack at the ruling National Conference and Congress, she said, "Those who are talking of greater and meaningful autonomy are living in fools paradise. Whenever elections comes, the demand for autonomy gets momentum."
Bureau Report