Govt needs to take preventive steps in J-K: Baijayant Panda

Reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's comments on Jammu and Kashmir, national vice president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Baijayant Jay Panda on Wednesday said the government is not taking over anything and that it needs to take preventive steps in the state for growth.

"Government has no intention of taking over anything. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and has acceded to India by same rules as other princely states. There are people who were clearly involved in coordinating with Pakistan, orgsing funding for attacks and arson. The government needs to take preventive steps. Space has been created for genuine politicians who owe allegiance to India," Panda said.

Earlier, Gandhi had said that the government was trying to "remove" nationalist leaders like former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah "to create political vacuum" which, he noted, will be filled by terrorists.

He also said that the government wanted to "permanently" use Kashmir as a vehicle to divide the country on communal lines.

"It's obvious that the government is trying to remove nationalist leaders like Farooq Abdullah to create a political vacuum in Jammu and Kashmir that will be filled by terrorists. Kashmir can then permanently be used as a political instrument to polarise the rest of India," Gandhi had said in a tweet.

Abdullah was on Sunday night booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA). The 81-year-old National Conference leader has been under house arrest since last month.

( With inputs from ANI )