This Article is From May 24, 2015

Will Work Towards Removing Article 370 When We Have Numbers in Parliament, Says BJP

Will Work Towards Removing Article 370 When We Have Numbers in Parliament, Says BJP

File photo of BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra.

Jammu: The BJP today said the repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution continues to be part of its core ideology and it will work in that direction whenever it garners the required numbers in Parliament.

"It continues to be part of the core ideology of BJP. Right now, we don't have enough numbers in Parliament to do away with it, but in future, when we have the required numbers, we will work towards its removal," BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters here today.

Repealing Article 370 -- which grants special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir - will require two-thirds majority in Parliament as the Constitution will have to be amended.

Mr Patra said the BJP and PDP, which comprise the ruling alliance in the state, are ideologically different but both parties came together to provide a stable government and for the sake of development.

The two parties took time to cobble out an alliance and rifts have surfaced among the state leaders over several issues since they came to power.

"Small controversies" do crop up when coalition partners have differences in their core ideology, but the Jammu and Kashmir government was being guided by the common minimum programme, Mr Patra said.
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