Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan,who was here on Sunday to attend a felicitation function in his honour,left without any of the state BJP leaders meeting him. The MP CM was here as an exclusive guest of Panun Kashmir,which felicitated him for passing a resolution in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly on July 24 endorsing the demand for a separate territory in Kashmir for Kashmiri Pandits. The convention was also attended by MP Home Minister Uma Shankar Gupta and BJP national secretary Prabhat Jha,besides Kashmiri Pandit leaders and RSS members. No BJP leader attended the event. State BJP leaders cited various reasons for their absence. However,sources in the BJP confirmed that the state unit was not happy with the way Panun Kashmir sidelined them. Even Chouhan,Gupta and Jha did not meet any senior BJP leader before leaving the city. BJP state president Ashok Khajuria said he was in Chandigarh for a medical check-up while BJPs national executive member Nirmal Singh said he,along with state spokesperson Ramesh Arora and vice-president Chander Prakash Ganga,was in Rajouri. Dr Agnishekhar,convener of Panun Kashmir,said,We invited senior BJP leaders,but they might have been busy. As far as Chouhan was concerned,he was our exclusive guest and he left after attending the felicitation function. He added that BJP Mayor Kavinder Gupta was present at the function. However,the Mayor too did not meet Chouhan. On his part,Chouhan termed the Working Group on Centre-State relation anti-national,as it strengthen the hands of separatists elements in the state. Addressing the convention,he said the people in his state will protest against the report,as its against the interest of people of Jammu and Ladakh who are facing discrimination at the hands of Kashmir.
