People's Conference leader, Sajad Gani Lone today met with Prime Minister Narender Modi in New Delhi in the run up to the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
While Mr. Lone's office in Kashmir said that he had spoken to the PM about the recent floods, the meeting holds political significance as BJP for the first time is aiming to come to power in Kashmir and has opened channels of conversation with several Kashmiri politicians.
Mr. Lone had earlier met with JP Nadda, General Secretary of the BJP and had also met BJP leader Ram Madhav twice in the previous month and publicly praised Mr. Modi.
In 2002 Assembly Mr. Lone fielded proxy candidates in Handawara and won the seat. In 2009 Parlimentary elections, he lost from Baramulla Parlimentary constituency bagging 65000 votes. In the last Parlimentary elections, People's Conference candidate, Salam ud din Bajad, came third after bagging 70, 000 votes.
Mr. Sajad, who does not hold much electoral importance in the Kashmiri political landscape right now, has played an interesting hand by coming out openly in his acceptance of Mr. Modi and by giving feelers that he is open to joining hands with BJP after the elections. In a way, BJP in Kashmir is bereft of any well known Kashmiri face and Mr. Lone seems to be making efforts to become that face.
This is Mr. Lone's first Assembly elections and his overtures toward Mr Modi and BJP are making it an ambitous entry. Polical experts say that he is hoping to be the Chief Minister.
Mr. Lone, a former separatist leader whose brother Bilal Lone is still a separatist leader, is one of the few Kashmiri politicians in these elections who are meeting with BJP leaders and not shying away from accepting his meeting. Mr. Lone's father in law, Amanullah Khan, is senior pro-Independence Kashmir leader based in Pakistan.
