The BJP legislative party staged a protest demanding the revocation of a government order mandating Urdu as a compulsory language for the Naib Tehsildar recruitment examination in Jammu and Kashmir, calling the order discriminatory and detrimental to the interests of Jammu's youth.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that India and Pakistan came closer to resolving the Kashmir issue during the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. He added that he does not expect a return to that situation in his lifetime. Abdullah lauded Singh's efforts on Kashmir, including the setting up of working groups on the issue, and said he practically initiated measures for the return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. The chief minister also praised Singh's contribution to India's economic development.
Both candidates have shifted from their traditional constituencies - Sadhotra from Marh and Sharma from Akhnoor - after these two segments were reserved for Scheduled Castes.
People's Democratic Party MLA Waheed Para on Monday moved a resolution in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly opposing the abrogation of Article 370 and calling for the restoration of special status to the erstwhile state, leading to noisy scenes in the House.
Congress rebel Satish Sharma, who defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajeev Sharma by nearly 7,000 votes and relegated his former party's heavyweight Tara Chand to the third position in the Chhamb seat, has found a place in the Omar Abdullah government, representing the Jammu region in the dispensation.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Nagrota MLA Devender Singh Rana, brother of Union minister Jitendra Singh, died on Thursday at a private hospital in Haryana's Faridabad. He was 59.
The BJP has emerged the second largest party by winning 29 constituencies in the maiden assembly polls post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, improving its all-time high tally of 25 seats recorded in 2014 elections.
BJP members, including the Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, opposed the resolution, saying it was not part of the listed business.
A Jammu and Kashmir minister belonging to Congress has stoked a controversy by suggesting that Kashmir be granted "azadi", remarks that embarassed his party that termed them as his personal view.
Terming the 'azadi' statement made by senior Congress leader and Jammu and Kashmir Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma as "unfortunate", the ruling National Conference on Wednesday said that it always stood for the integrity of the state and equitable development.
Jammu and Kashmir Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma, who is in the eye of a storm over his 'azadi' remark, appears in for trouble with the Congress high command on Saturday issuing a showcause notice to him.
Three civilians were injured as Pakistani troops opened fire and shelled 17 border out posts and hamlets along the International Border in Jammu and Samba districts overnight, resulting in heavy exchanges till the wee hours on Friday.
Jammu and Kashmir registered its highest turn-out in assembly elections in the last 25 years with an estimated 65 per cent of voters casting their votes, as the fifth and final phase of polling ended on Saturday. Jharkhand, which also went to the polls along with J&K, broke all previous polling records to witness over 66 per cent of turn-out in the five phases, bettering the previous mark of 54.2 per cent in the 2004 assembly poll.
In its attempt to clinch majority in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Opposition Peoples Democratic Party is trying to make inroads in Jammu by raking up "regional discrimination" and secularism card to woo the Hindu voters of the region.
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