Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 17: While extending full support to the 72-hour Jammu bandh call by the AIIMS Co-ordination Committee, the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) leaders today lashed out at the BJP for trying to weaken the movement for setting up of AIIMS in Jammu by giving confusing statements.
Addressing a joint press conference at party office here today, the senior PCC leaders Sham Lal Sharma, Mula Ram, Raman Bhalla, Ravinder Sharma, Kanta Bhan, Balwan Singh, Shah Mohd Choudhary, Vikram Malhotra and others announced full support to the Jammu bandh call and appealed to the people to make it a grand success to further press the Centre and State Government to accede to the genuine demand for setting up of AIIMS in Jammu, as announced on February 28 this year.
Reacting sharply to the statements of the State BJP leaders and some party ministers, the senior Congress leaders accused the party (BJP) of first deceiving and betraying the people of Jammu on the issue and now trying to weaken and sabotage the movement by their contradictory statements to confuse the general public by twisting facts. However, the people have understood the real face of the BJP and are not going to buy their arguments until the demand is conceded as per the terms of the Coordination Committee, comprising of all social and religious organizations and civil society with active support of Congress and some other political parties.
The Congress leaders questioned the role of BJP whose ministers and other senior leaders are issuing contradictory statements to distort the actual facts in order to confuse the people about the present status of AIIMS, so that the ongoing agitation and movement is weakened. The people are aware of the role of the BJP and its ministers and other leaders since the formation of the coalition with PDP and they (people) are not ready to accept their false assurances and hollow announcements.
After having failed to honour the aspirations and interests of the Jammu region people on the issue of AIIMS and other issues of parity, the BJP and its leaders are doing great dis-service by their attempts to weaken and sabotage the ongoing movement, which however, would be taken to its logical conclusion at all costs, they maintained.
The Congress leaders further appealed the people to make this bandh call a grand success.