RSS floats front for polls

In what adds to the Centre8217;s headache on JK elections, the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh RSS, is set to float a new multi-party front i...

In what adds to the Centre8217;s headache on J038;K elections, the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh RSS, is set to float a new multi-party front in the state to contest the forthcoming Assembly elections. Its main plank: trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sangh spokesman M G Vaidya said this evening that the proposed front would take shape by July 15.

The Jammu and Kashmir National Democratic Front JKNDF, which has been spearheading the movement for the creation of Jammu as a separate state for over two years, would be merged with this RSS group.

When asked if the BJP would be part of the front, Vaidya said that even the Congress would be acceptable if it supported the trifurcation demand and sought to join the front.

This is, however, more easily said than done.

The RSS executive council had adopted a resolution on the trifurcation at Kurukshetra last month seeking the creation of a separate state of Jammu, Kashmir Valley and the status of a Union territory for Ladakh. Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had turned down the demand.

An RSS support to a rival formation was bound to dash the BJP hopes to put up a good show in the Jammu region during the polls. A senior BJP functionary requesting anonymity said that it could undercut the party8217;s electoral support.

Vaidya claimed the new group was set up to make people aware of the 8216;8216;discriminatory policies8217;8217; followed by successive National Conference regimes against the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

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A bulk of JKNDF members owe their allegiance to the RSS. The main architect of the idea is RSS prant pracharak Indresh Kumar, who is assisted by former state BJP president Tilak Raj Sharma. Vaidya said the parties subscribing to the Sangh demand for the creation of Jammu as a separate state would be welcome to join it.

Two parties, the Akali Dal and the Panthers Party, which had been sounded on the move, had already indicated their willingness to join the front. Vaidya said the task of chalking out an electoral strategy and selecting candidates would be left to the front. The RSS would only lend its support to it.