INDI Alliance Just a Photo-Op, Will Not Stand Anywhere, J&K BJP Leader Ashok Koul Says

New Delhi: A day after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) asserted that it would go solo in the elections in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary for Jammu and Kashmir Ashok Koul on Thursday said the INDI (Indian National Developmental Inclusive) alliance is just a photo-op and will not stand anywhere in the country, news agency PTI reported.

“Our leaders had already said that it (the idea of forming a bloc) was for a photo session, and nothing else", PTI quoted Ashok Koul as saying. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event organised as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationwide interaction with first-time voters on the National Voters Day.

“They ed the photos and you will see what will happen to this alliance”, Koul reportedly said, even as he quipped, “You saw what happened in West Bengal, Delhi and Punjab: what else remains there? We believe that this alliance will not stand anywhere”.

Responding to a query on the impending assembly elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Koul reportedly stated that the polls will take place. “There is a decision by the Supreme Court as well and it will happen,” Koul told PTI, while referring to the top court's ruling, directing the Election Commission to conduct elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly before September 30 this year. The directions from the apex court came as it was pronouncing the verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the revocation of Article 370.

On the matter of the Assam government stopping Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ from entering some places in the state, Koul asserted, “such decisions are taken after assessing the situation, but the party was not against any person’s wishes”.

Koul further said, “The Assam government may have stopped him somewhere, but it is not like that he was deliberately or forcibly stopped", according to PTI. "Some steps are taken after assessing the situation… and it is not like we are against anyone or oppose anyone or will not allow someone to fulfil his wishes,” he added.

(With inputs from PTI)