Govt. says no proposal to repeal Article 370

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that the NDA Government has no proposal to repeal Article 370 of the Constitution that grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

"No" was the reply of Rijiju to a written question by TMC member Saugata Roy on whether the government has any proposal to repeal Article 370.

Immediately after NDA came to power at the Centre, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh had said that the government was open to debate on merits and demerits of Article 370 and would make efforts to "convince" the "unconvinced" by holding contact programmes with every section of the society in Jammu and Kashmir.

Singh, who was elected from Udhampur Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir, had said BJP was working "very professionally" on this issue and has been calling meetings in the Kashmir Valley.

"We have succeeded in convincing some of them (on the issue of repealing the provision)," Singh had said then.