JKNPP demands resignation of BJP ministers

Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) today staged a protest here, seeking resignations of BJP ministers in the state for allegedly cowering down before Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti after she refused recommending a CBI probe in the Kathua rape-and-murder case.

Talking about the resignation of the two BJP ministers - Lal Singh and C P Ganga - he said people would have welcomed them had they resigned immediately after their assurance of CBI probe was rejected by the chief minister.

The two BJP ministers courted controversy by attending a rally supporting those accused of raping and killing an eight-year-old girl in Kathua.

The present turmoil and tension in the Jammu region could further escalate in case the Jammu-based ministers continued to remain glued to power, said Harsh Dev Singh, the party chairman.

He said Forest Minister Lal Singh and Industries Minister C P Ganga were mere sacrificial lambs for the BJP in order to save its opportunistic alliance with the PDP.

"Not only in Kathua case but the BJP had surrendered each of its fundamentals and discarded its core philosophy merely for crumbs of power, he claimed.

The JKNPP leader alleged that the BJP ministers preferred to play a second fiddle to Mehbooba thus facilitating the promotion of her "pro-separatist agenda" in the state.