UDHAMPUR (Agency): Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a star campaigner for Union minister Jitendra Singh, addressed an election rally in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur on Friday, April 12, amid tight security.
Jitendra Singh is eyeing a third term as an MP from the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, where polling will be held in the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Four years after its abrogation, Article 370 has taken centre stage in the election campaigns in Jammu and Kashmir.
PM Modi in Udhampur
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a massive rally in Udhampur’s Batal Ballian area on Friday.
“Time is not far when assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir and statehood will be restored,” Modi said at the Udhampur rally, adding “Please trust me, I will get rid of problems plaguing Jammu and Kashmir for the last 60 years.”
“I challenge any political party, especially Congress, to get back Article 370. They cannot do it,” the PM said, adding that the BJP fulfilled the promise of ending long sufferings of people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“After decades, election happening in Jammu and Kashmir without fear of terrorism and threat of cross-border firing,” Modi said.
Tight security arrangements
The authorities have activated multi-tier security arrangements, including a ban on the flying of drones. The security agencies have issued advisories and Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) for people attending the rally and for the security personnel in view of the threat perception.
Security arrangements include elaborate deployments, area domination, checkpoints and alertness in areas and vigilance on vital installations in the region by various security agencies. News agency PTI, citing officials, reported the security personnel have been put on duty along the Jammu-Udhampur highway and vital junctions amid the setting up of additional checkpoints to monitor the commuters. Frisking has been intensified at major spots on the highway, the officials said.
This was Modi’s third visit to Jammu and Kashmir in over one and a half months. The prime minister held rallies while inaugurating several development projects on February 20 and March 7 in Jammu and Srinagar cities.
About Udhampur Lok Sabha seat The Udhampur Lok Sabha seat is seeing a triangular contest with the Congress fielding Choudhary Lal Singh and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) pitting three-time ex-MLA GM Saroori against BJP’s Jitendra Singh.
Voting in the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency will be held in the first of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on April 19. Jitendra Singh had retained the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 elections, defeating Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh, the grandson of erstwhile Maharaja Hari Singh, by a big margin of 3,53,272 votes. Lal Singh only got 19,049 votes.
In 2014, Jitendra Singh had defeated former Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad by a margin of 60,976 votes. Lal Singh has been seeking the support of the electorate by accusing the BJP of snatching Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and special constitutional provisions, while Jitendra Singh has been demanding that the main opposition party clears its stand on Article 370.
Jitendra Singh has said while the Congress was yet to clear its stand on the Article 370 issue, the party is fighting the election with the National Conference that has publicly declared its opposition to Article 370 abrogation and stated that if given a chance they would seek to restore it.
(Courtesy: HT News)
