Congress, NC, PDP want to revoke UT status of Ladakh: G Kishan Reddy

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy on Sunday said that the Congress, National Conference (NC), and People's Democratic Party (PDP) have declared that they will restore Article 370 and revoke the status of UT for Ladakh.

"Congress has declared that they will restore Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir and revoke the status of UT for Ladakh. I want to appeal to the public to boycott Congress as it is speaking the same language as China and Pakistan," Reddy said at a public rally here.

"Farooq Abdullah also said that NC, PDP and Congress will restore Article 370 with the support of China and take back the status of Union Territory from Ladakh. Do you want UT status or Article 370?" he added.

Reddy hit out at China for its statement on Ladakh becoming a UT and said that it is the internal matter of India.

"The Foreign Minister of China made a statement that the government of India has done a wrong thing by making Ladakh as a UT. I want to ask him, who is he to meddle in our internal affairs. Our people wanted to make Ladakh as a UT and hence we made it," he said.

The MoS Home further listed the development works done and proposed in Ladakh and mentioned the budgetary provisions made for them.

"Ladakh was always neglected for years together. The people here had a demand for making Ladakh as a union territory (UT) for the last 70 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took steps in this direction in 2019 and made Ladakh a UT," he said.

"During 2019-20, Rs 5,154 crore budget provision was made for Ladakh. In the current year, Rs 5,958 crore budget provision has been made by the government. There can be generation of 30,000 MW power in Ladakh from solar energy," he added.

Reddy further said: "The development of roads by Border Roads Orgsation (BRO) is being done speedily. A tunnel road will be made between Leh and Srinagar that will drastically reduce the time of travel between the two places."

"Narendra Modi government just does not talk but it delivers on the ground. We will undertake several development works in Ladakh," he added.

Reddy arrived in the Union Territory of Ladakh ahead of the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council elections scheduled to take place on October 22.

( With inputs from ANI )