Praja Parishad crisis deepens

KT NEWS SERVICE JAMMU, Jan 4: The dark clouds, which started hovering over the prospects of newly formed Praja Parishad (PP) last Sunday, deepened today with another senior leader, Upender Krishan Bhat, washing his hands off the organisation.

In a press release, Bhat stated, "I am pained and shocked to learn through the media reports that the so-called Praja Parishad leaders have associated my name with their formation, which is the handiwork of none other than the anti-Jammu Congress." Bhat stressed, "I have nothing to do with the Praja Parishad whose single point agenda is to help Congress and harm the interests of the nationalist people." He also emphasised, "I was, am and always shall remain committed to the Bharatiya Janata Party." He made it clear that "he was neither a member of the so-called Praja Parishad nor a convenor of its media committee." It might be pertinent to mention here that on Sunday, January 2, the rebel leader and president of PP, Chandermohan Sharma had announced its 11-member adhoc executive, along with the provincial committees for Jammu and Kashmir and the media committee.

At the said press conference, Sharma has announced Bhat as the convenor of the media committee.

However, on that day only, two veteran leaders, whose names were included as the main patrons of the PP, Captain Diwan Singh and Thakur Baldev Singh, expressed their displeasure at being associated with the party.

Although, both the leaders, who are at a ripe age, refused to comment up on whether they were with BJP or Praja Parishad, they also declined to lend any authenticity to Sharma's claims that they were with Praja Parishad.

Meanwhile, Chandermohan Sharma was not available for his comments.