Asserting that BJP will form the next Government in Jammu and Kashmir, the party’s newly appointed in-charge for Assembly polls, Avinash Rai Khanna on Wednesday said the party was hopeful of winning “some” Assembly segments in Kashmir.
“We are confident to win 44 plus Assembly segments in thestate,” said Khanna, who is BJP’s national vice-president.
The senior leader said the BJP was hopeful to open itsaccount in Kashmir in the next election. “We had lead in Tral in the Parliamentelection. Hopefully we will win some seats in Kashmir. We are working on astrategy in this direction,” Khanna said, adding people of Kashmir were”wholeheartedly supporting” BJP’s development agenda for the Valley.
Khanna was nominated in-charge for J&K Assembly polls onWednesday after the BJP working President JP Nadda chaired a meeting of theparty’s state unit at New Delhi. Khanna is also the party’s in-charge for thestate’s organizational affairs.
The Election Commission is likely to announce the poll schedulefor J&K Assembly polls after Amarnath Yatra is over, with official sourcesindicating that the elections may be held in October-November.
Khanna said that a “massive” membership drive was underwayin Kashmir and BJP has made “serious inroads” in the region.
“In the ongoing membership drive that started on 7 July over90,000 new members have joined the party,” he said, adding BJP will surpass thetarget of increasing our members’ strength by 30 percent in the ongoingmembership drive.
Khanna said members from other political parties werejoining BJP. “It is overwhelming and an indication of our rise in the Valley,”he said.
Stating that the party would start outreach programmes,Khanna said the leadership was chalking out the strategy in this regard.