Treading untested terrain in the Valley, the BJP has reached out to around four fringe players in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP is hoping that the tactic would help it in the post-poll scenario in the state, where it is taking on the two families -- Abdullahs and Muftis -- which have dominated the political arena.
Aware that its "real" electoral challenge was in the Valley, the BJP is hoping to breach the mental block against the saffron party even as it toes its strategy of banking on prime minister Narendra Modi and planks of development and corruption, sources said.
BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, who was in the state recently, met leaders of outfits which are part of a nine-party third front, when he was in the state recently. Besides People's Conference leader Sajjad Lone, whom BJP leader JP Nadda had also met earlier in Srinagar, Ram Madhav had talks with Hakeem Mohammad Yasin of People's Democratic Front, Ghulam Hassan Mir, who is agriculture minister and chief of Democratic Party.
Nationalistic, and Sheikh Abdul Rashid (Engineer Rashid), who has a significant following in Langate and Kupwara district. The leaders, who have influence in pockets in the Valley, ruled out a pre-poll alliance, but kept their post-poll options open.
"The BJP has won with a clear mandate and Narendra bhai has visited Kashmir several times, but NDA's policies vis-a-vis Kashmir issue, unemployment and power projects are still not clear. They need to go back to Atal Bihari Vajpayee's doctrine if they want to come close to Kashmir," Yasin told dna over phone.
While admitting that the BJP leader had met him, Yasin, who represents the Khansahib assembly seat in Budgam district, said his outfit will fight elections as part of the nine-party alliance. "We will think about it only after elections are over. We were not in favour of immediate election because of floods but now we have to contest to participate in the democratic process," he said.
Mir, who had won from the Gulmarg constituency of Baramulla district, was a small-time lawyer in Tanmarg before he began his political career with National Conference. He later moved to the Congress and PDP.
The BJP, which has undertaken an exercise to register votes of Kashmiri pandits at polling booths in the Capital, is hoping that Modi will be able to lure the youth towards the party. Besides Modi, the party will rope in senior ministers and its chief ministers to campaign in the state.
Party sources said the fact that boycott of polls in the Valley could benefit the BJP could cause a dilemma.
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