Assembly, LS seats will be reserved for SCs, STs in J-K: Nadda

BJP working president JP Nadda on Monday said that in the near future seats will be reserved in Jammu and Kashmir for the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe communities.

"Due to Article 370, the patriot Gujjar and Bakarwal community, who defend our borders, were deprived of reservation. After the delimitation process that has begun, nine seats of Vidhan Sabha and one or two seats of Lok Sabha will be carved out, which will go to the ST and the SC communities," Nadda said at an event here.

Nadda also praised the people for reposing their faith in the BJP, which gave them the power to revoke Article 370.

"Your votes empowered us to take the historic decision to abrogate Article 370. It took so many sacrifices to reach this day. We did it in the House where we were ridiculed for not having a majority," he said.

In August, Parliament revoked Article 370 which gave special provisions to Jammu and Kashmir and also bifurcated the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The BJP leaders had defended the move by claiming that it would enable the people in the state to enjoy the rights, which were denied to them under the garb of special status and would also make the region join the mainstream development, taking place in the country.