Post-Temple, BJP sets election ball rolling in Jammu and Kashmir, has eye on at least Anantnag apart from Jammu and Udhampur

A day after the consecration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya, the BJP hit the road running in Jammu and Kashmir, where uncertainty continues over holding of elections. The party held the first meeting of its State Election Committee (SEC) in the Union Territory and on Tuesday, held a workshop on its country-wide ‘Gaon Chalo Abhiyan’.

The preparations are ostensibly for the Lok Sabha elections, with the BJP having won 2 of the UT’s 5 seats in 2019. The last time Assembly polls were held in J&K was 10 years ago, in 2014, and there is no clarity regarding when the next elections will be held.

“The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are a challenge for the BJP, as we not only aim to retain the seats we had won in the last elections, but also increase our tally,” BJP J&K president Ravinder Raina told partymen at the SEC meeting, going on to talk about the various departments set up for the purpose and the different responsibilities assigned to them.

The ‘Gaon Chalo Abhiyaan’ will kick off after January 26, and involve a BJP functionary spending at least 24 hours in a village to understand the issues of the people and to ensure that the target population is getting the benefit of public welfare schemes.

Apart from Raina, the SEC was attended by party general secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul, former deputy chief minister and J&K’s Lok Sabha cluster in-charge Dr Nirmal Singh, the party’s vice-president and Abhiyaan convener Pawan Khajuria, and its general secretary Dr Devinder Kumar Manyal.

Significantly, both the SEC meeting and ‘Gaon Chalo Abhiyaan’ workshop came five days after the BJP had held its core group meeting to discuss strategy for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Sunil Sethi, the chief spokesperson of the J&K unit, said that apart