Hans News Service Jammu/Srinagar

TheBharatiya Janata Party staged a protest in Jammu and Srinagar on Wednesday against the National Conference-led Jammu and Kashmir government over the Assembly resolution on statehood, including autonomy. The BJP accused the government of passing the resolution without adequate discussion and failing to fulfil its election promises.

Hundreds of BJP workers, led by party MP Jugal Kishore Sharma and other senior leaders, gathered at Kachi Chawani and marched in the area, raising slogans against the National Conference (NC) and the government. In Srinagar, the BJP protested outside its head office in Jawahar Nagar. Speaking to reporters, BJP J-K spokesperson Altaf Thakur said the NC government was raising these issues to divert attention from public welfare. The protesters demanded Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s resignation and the dissolution of the government, alleging that the Assembly resolution sought to revive provisions of greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, which the NDA government rejected years ago. BJP workers also burned the chief minister’s effigy during the protest. Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in large numbers along the protest route. Sharma alleged that BJP legislators were not given adequate opportunity to participate in the discussion on the resolution and were forcibly removed from the Assembly when they raised objections.