SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Monday met former J&K separatist

Sajjad Lone, fuelling speculation that the BJP leadership could be propping up his People's
Conference to prevent Mehbooba Mufti's PDP from scoring an outright win.
READ ALSO: Sajjad Lone eyes top job, likely to join hands with BJP
The spadework for the meeting was done by BJP general secretaries Ram Madhav and JP
Nadda who met Lone in Srinagar. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lone did not
specifically refer to polls being on the agenda, limiting himself to saying that "a series of
issues" were discussed.
READ ALSO: Kashmiri women joining saffron movement in valley
"The main agenda of the meeting was to exchange ideas on ways and means of developing
the state to its full potential. A series of issues were discussed. However, the main focus
remained on the recent floods in Kashmir and the need for swift and concrete efforts
towards relief and rehabilitation," Lone told a news agency.
Ram Madhav, who, according to sources, met Lone a second time in New Delhi earlier this
month, told TOI, "All doors are open for those working for the development of the valley."
However, BJP sources indicated that polls were among the themes which came up for
discussion. They also said that Lone, with influence in 4-5 seats in Kupwara and Baramulla
districts, could be useful for BJP's denial strategy: that is, to prevent the PDP from gaining a
majority in the J&K assembly on the strength of resentment against the Omar Abdullah
government.
"All good people should come together to fight the National Conference, PDP and Congress
in J&K," a senior BJP source said.
Significantly, Lone, after his meeting with BJP leaders, did not rule out the possibility of a
post-poll understanding with BJP. "It will depend on the number of seats we win and
whether we matter," he said.
BJP, which had so far been confined to Hindu pockets in the Jammu region, has under
Modi and party chief Amit Shah scaled up its ambition to grab seats from the
overwhelmingly Muslim valley. Shah exhorted the cadre to seek to score a majority in the
87-strong J&K assembly by conceptualizing 'Mission 44+' strategy. Although the
devastating floods have been a hindrance for the ambition, BJP has not given up on its plan
to prevent the PDP from walking away with a majority.
READ ALSO: PM Modi may address 8 poll rallies in J&K beginning November
10

It is confident of sweeping the Jammu region (36 seats), do well in Ladakh (4 seats) and
snatch a few from among the 47 in the Valley by mobilizing the support of Kashmir Pandits
who were forced to flee their homes because of threat from terrorists, and by fielding
prominent figures in the Valley who can capitalize on the incumbency against the Omar
Abdullah-led NC government.
Lone, with the potential to win a few seats and disturb PDP in others, can be an asset for
BJP's game plan.
In fact, with the prospect of a hung House looming large, a number of leaders from the
Valley who are not aligned with the ruling NC or the principal challenger, the PDP, hope to
become chief minister with BJP's help.
Ater meeting Nadda and Ram Madhav at his Srinagar house, Lone had said, "The Congress
that dominated the political scene in Kashmir confined itself to the Abdullah and Mufti
families. Here is the change. There is another national party which is in power and whose
national leaders come to Kashmir and meet people like Sajjad Lone."
READ ALSO: Union minister of state woos Kashmiri Pandits ahead of J&K
polls
Lone, whose father Abdul Ghani, a prominent leader, was short dead by terrorists in 2002
at the instance of Pakistan's ISI, has been active in electoral politics, but not with any
spectacular success. In the coming election, he will be fielding 19 candidates.
He has a realistic chance of winning from Kupwara district in north Kashmir where he will
be up against NC's Chowdhary Ramzan, the current transport and food minister, and PDP's
Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Sofi, once his protege.
Lone came into the limelight in 2002 when he openly accused Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali
Shah Geelani for his father's murder. High drama was witnessed at the funeral of his slain
father when he pushed Geelani and other Hurriyat leaders away and abused them.
Personable and articulate, 47-year-old Lone has never been part of Hurriyat but has often
espoused the separatists' cause in TV shows.
READ ALSO: EC relaxes poll code for flood relief in J&K

DEHRADUN: Eighteen days after a Delhi couple Moumita Das, 27, and Avijit Paul, 24,
mysteriously went missing from the hills of Uttarakhand, a cab driver has confessed that he
robbed the two and threw them to their death, down a steep cliff.

On Monday, the Dehradun police broke the news to their kin that the driver they had paid to
take them around Uttarakhand, Raju Das, had murdered the pair with the help of three
friends. They fell hundreds of feet to the ground.
The couple lived in a rented house in south Delhi's Lado Sarai. Moumita taught at Gurgaon's
Pathways International School while Avijit was a painter. They reached Dehradun on
October 21 and celebrated Diwali there. On October 24, the couple hired the cab to go to
Chakrata, 135km away. From there, cops said, the young pair asked Raju to drive them to
Tiger Fall. The two were last spotted at a momo shop in the area.
Circle officer (Vikas Nagar) Swapn Kishore Singh told TOI, "The cab was a jeep and three
friends of Raju (all residents of Malrauna village in Chakrata) were also seated in the
vehicle. The trio said they were Raju's friends and would return on their own from Chakrata
after watching a 'nautanki'.
According to Raju, the murder took place in the evening when they were returning to
Chakrata. Near a place called Lakhamandal, the trio asked Raju to stop the vehicle and told
the couple to step out.
In his confession, driver Raju Das told the Dehradun police that he wasn't personally
involved in the couple's murder. His friends after looting Moumita and Avijit threw them off
the steep cliff, he said. The cabbie claimed that after the crime he kept Avijit's mobile
phone.
Moumita hails from Kalyani in West Bengal while Avijit came from Dum Dum near
Kolkata.
Mrinal Krishna Das, Moumita's father, had registered a missing case at Saket police station
on October 29. While probing the matter, Delhi police had found that the last phone call
from the couple's number was made to Raju's number on October 23 and since then there
was no trace of them. In addition to the couple's mobile phone, the handset of Raju, too, was
switched off after Diwali.
Unsatisfied with the police prober, Moumita's brother Mriganka Das and uncle Gopal Das
went to Chakrata and adjoining Vikas Nagar area and told the police there about the missing
couple.
On November 6, Raju was rounded up and brought to Vikas Nagar Bazaar Chowki for
questioning. But in a bizarre twist, he was let off as police felt he did not provide any
"substantial" clue in the case.
It was then that a three-member Delhi police team arrived at Chakrata on Sunday

afternoon. Interestingly, just few hours later, Raju switched on his mobile phone and
inserted a new SIM card, giving the police team a reasonable reason to suspect his role in it.
"Naugaon police, after watching the photograph of Avijit and matching it with the one which
they had in their record, have now confirmed that they have found Avijit's body," Singh said,
adding the search is still on to find Moumita's body.