The BJP, after hard bargaining, today decided to leave 12 seats for the RSS-backed Jammu Rajya Morcha in the forthcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.Though the Assembly has 87 constituencies, the influence of the two parties does not practically extend beyond Jammu region, that accounts for 36 constituencies. The Morcha, a 19-body coalition led by RSS leader Shrikumar, is contesting the elections with the statehood demand for Jammu as its main plank.The dispute was basically over seven seats. The BJP got four of them, Jammu (East), Suchetgarh, Akhnoor, Udhampur, leaving Jammu (West), Bishnah, Reasi for the Morcha.Om Prakash Kohli, in-charge of the state BJP, replied in the negative when asked if there would be a joint BJP-Morcha campaign. However, their issues would be common, barring the demand for statehood. The BJP, he explained, would focus on the discrimination against Jammu and non-performance of the Farooq Abdullah government.
