Jammu: Leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference and the National Panthers Party (NPP) separately met Governor Satya Pal Malik here and discussed the prevailing situation in the state, officials said Saturday.
JK People's Conference chairman Sajjad Gani Lone along with his colleague Imran Raza Ansari called on the governor at Raj Bhavan and apprised him about various issues relating to the equitable development and aspirations of the common masses, an official spokesperson said. He said the former ministers complimented the governor for taking several initiatives in redressing public grievances. The governor asked Lone and Ansari to continue their endeavours for maintaining peace and harmony in the state, besides promoting public welfare and development of their respective areas, the spokesperson said. Separately, a three-member delegation of the NPP led by its chief patron Bhim Singh met the governor at the Raj Bhavan and raised with him issues regarding the current political situation besides various matters of public interest. Singh assured his full support in improving peace and harmony in the state, the spokesperson said. He said Malik urged Singh to continue his sustained endeavours for public welfare. An NPP spokesperson said the delegation, also comprising the party's state senior vice president P K Ganju and state general secretary Anita Thakur, demanded delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies to increase the number of seats in both houses, besides rotation of reserved constituencies in the state prior to holding elections. The NPP supremo discussed the "peculiar problem" of Jammu and Kashmir, where delimitation of constituencies and increase in the number of seats in accordance to constitutional obligation stands a closed chapter by the NC, Congress and the BJP till 2026. "This is the most ugly and unconstitutional step of the former ruling parties of the state denying fundamental constitutional rights to the citizens," Singh said. The spokesperson said the NPP demanded increase in the number of Assembly seats in the Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh regions of the state according to area, population and hilly terrain of the state.
