Consult all political parties before acting on Art 370: Parkash Singh Badal

Amid a raging row over Article 370 that guarantees special status for Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today appealed to the Centre to take all political parties in confidence before making any move on such sensitive issues. "The decisions on issues like Article 370 should not be taken in haste," the chief minister told reporters here.

Advocating amicable solution for issues like Article 370, Badal said, "an experienced and visionary leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a call on such issues only after due consultation with the entire political leadership of the country." Badal also lauded Modi for constitution of Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the issue of black money stashed abroad, saying Modi government was serious in solving key issues plaguing the country. 

Badal also said the state government would soon urge the Centre to take immediate steps to enhance vigil on international border with Pakistan to check smuggling of drugs into the state. "As the security agencies like Border Security Force (BSF) are under the direct control of the Centre, so the state government will soon urge the Union government to take immediate steps for enhancing the vigil on borders to check the supply of drugs," he said. 

The Chief Minister said the state government had recently constituted a Special Cell headed by an Inspector General (IG) rank officer to take necessary action against the drug peddlers. The Punjab government would also take up the issue of pending development projects with the Centre which were hanging fire because of alleged apathy of previous government at Centre, he said.