Assembly elections – 2024: No truth to claims of our ties with the BJP: JeI Gen secy

Srinagar, Sept 10 : The General Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami, Ghulam Qadir Lone on Tuesday firmly denied any connection with the BJP.
“I have never said I am happy to win or lose against the BJP,” he said, adding that he has no interest in victory or defeat against them, Lone told KashmirNewsService(KNS).
Lone also clarified the party’s stance on participating in elections, stating that Jamaat-e-Islami had refrained from contesting elections for a long time due to concerns over electoral fraud. “In all the interviews I’ve given, I made it clear we wouldn’t participate until we were assured there would be no fraud,” he added.
He further said that the decision to run in elections came after guarantees of fairness were received “In the parliamentary election, it was proven that there was no fraud after that, we decided to participate”, he said.
Replying to a query that the party lacks public support, Lone said that JeI has full public support despite some people, though few in number, try to show that JeI don’t have support.
Lone said that their primary goal in elections is to support those who could help them in their case. “If some of our former members decided to contest, we supported them, hoping they would help us in ban lifting,” he added.(KNS)