BJP outreach programme: Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, other Union Ministers to visit J&K in June-July

New Delhi: Several Union ministers including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are slated to visit Jammu and Kashmir in the months of June and July under BJP’s outreach programme and to also take a stock of the development work in the erstwhile state. As per ANI sources, the visit comes ahead of the proposed elections in J&K, which can be held in the coming six months. "District Development Council elections have been done and the Council has been formed. The process of delimitation has been completed and the delimitation of 90 assembly segments has been framed. Now the review of the voter list is to be done. There is a possibility of elections in Jammu and Kashmir within the next six months," sources told the news agency. 

Rajnath Singh will visit J&K on June 17 and as per BJP sources, over 25 Union Ministers including Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Sarbananda Sonewal and Prahlad Patel will also pay a visit in June and July, ANI reported. 

These ministers will interact with common people, hold discussions with the administration and assess development work in the areas assigned to them. The BJP-led NDA government ministers will also inaugurate several development programmes in Jammu and Kashmir. 

BJP began the outreach programme in J&K after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A in 2019. In 2020, 36 Union Ministers visited the UT, while the next year, 70 Ministers visited J&K to review the security and development status of the region.

The visit also comes in the backdrop of recent targeted killings of civilians and cops in Jammu and Kashmir. Many Kashmiri Pandit employees have been agitating against the J&K administration and raising anti-BJP slogans demanding relocation to safer places amid the recent killings of the community members. 

(With agency inputs)