Congress summons CWC to discuss Kashmir situation

Congress has summoned an urgent meeting of its Working Committee either Tuesday evening or early Wednesday to finalise its position on the Modi government’s decision to scrap the special status enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution.

The meeting was necessitated as party leaders spoke in different voices on the issue with a section supporting the government move contending that it was long overdue, while seniors such as Ghulam Nabi Azad and P Chidambaram terming it as “murder of democracy”.

The issue was discussed at a meeting of Lok Sabha members convened by Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday morning. Gandhi is understood to have told the members that the party would oppose the government move on the point that all stake holders were not consulted on the matter.

Congress chief whip Bhuvaneshwar Kalita quit his Rajya Sabha seat on Monday saying that he differed with the party’s stand on Jammu and Kashmir. Senior lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi dubbed the government move on Kashmir as “politically astute” which would be difficult to oppose.

Former Rajya Sabha member Janardan Dwivedi welcomed the government move to scrap the special status of J&K as “long overdue”. Former Lok Sabha member Deepender Hooda also welcomed the move saying there was no need to have Article 370 in the 21st century.

Congress was among the handful of parties that opposed the move while many opposition parties such as BSP, AAP, YSRCP, TDP among others broke ranks to support the government on its decision to end J&K’s special status under Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two union territories.