JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Saturday said the party’s central election committee will take a call on fielding candidates in the three parliamentary constituencies in Kashmir Valley. He was responding to a question on the speculation that the BJP will not field its candidates in these three seats and will extend support to regional parties – the Democratic Progressive Azad Party of Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Anantnag constituency, the Sajjad Lone-led Peoples Conference in Baramulla, and the Apni Party of Altaf Bukhari in Srinagar. “The BJP has already announced its candidates for Udhampur and Jammu Lok Sabha seats (in Jammu region) and we are winning both the seats with huge margins,” Raina said. “A massive campaign is going on in support of party candidates across the two regions (Jammu and Kashmir). BJP is strong in Jammu as well as Kashmir but the final decision on fighting the elections from three seats of Kashmir – Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla – will be taken by the CEC of the party under the leadership of BJP president (J P Nadda),” he said. He declined a direct answer to a question on he being among the probable candidates for the Anantnag seat. The BJP has renominated Union minister Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore from Udhampur and Jammu, respectively. Both Singh and Kishore are eyeing a third straight victory from their respective seats. Earlier, Raina led the party’s Foundation Day celebrations at the party office here. Raina accompanied by party leader Ashok Khajuria, former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta and other senior leaders hoisted the party flag. “BJP is celebrating its 44th Foundation Day today. On this day in 1980, the BJP was established to provide a strong nationalist voice in the national political space,” Raina said. He said that today the party has established itself as a unique voice of the people of the country due to the hard work of its cadre and the strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Today BJP has strengthened the nation and empowered the people…, thus effectively fulfilling the aim of BJP stalwarts who dedicated their whole lives to the nation,” he said.
