Hyderabad, Oct 11 (PTI) Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Friday said that the Centre would respond at an appropriate time to the demand for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood.
However, he asserted Article 370 will not come back to Jammu and Kashmir.
He was responding to a query on National Conference seeking restoration of statehood during an informal interaction with mediapersons here.
Reddy, who was incharge of BJP for the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, said with the efforts of the Centre, the elections were conducted peacefully and there was also no necessity to conduct a repoll.
The BJP's performance was 'creditworthy' and it got more seats than in the past, he said.
The polling percentages in J&K were higher than even in Hyderabad (Assembly polls) where only about 50 per cent of voter turnout was registered, the union minister for coal and mines, said.
He further said the District Development Council (DDC) and Block Development Council (BDC) polls were also held successfully in Jammu and Kashmir.
Reddy expressed confidence that the BJP would win the coming Assembly elections in Jharkhand.
On the ongoing efforts of the Telangana government for rejuvenation of the Musi river and demolition of illegal structures in Hyderabad, he opposed the demolition of houses of the poor.
J-K assembly results clear message against abrogation of Article 370: Hurriyat Conference chief
The Jammu and Kashmir assembly election results are a clear message against the Centre's "unilateral decision" to abrogate Article 370 in 2019, Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said here on Friday.
Addressing the Friday congregation at Jamia Masjid here, Mirwaiz said people sent a "unanimous and clear message" in the recently concluded elections that in every manner available to them, "they will resist attempts to subjugate and disempower them".
"This time, through a consolidated ballot, they registered their strong disapproval of the drastic unilateral changes made in August 2019. Since then they have been systematically disempowered, deprived and stifled our voices," he added.
Mirwaiz said he hoped that the new government would respect the message of the voters and fulfil the promise they made "to restore the legal safeguards and the rights snatched from us in 2019".
He said the incoming government should help secure the release of all political prisoners and youth languishing in jails. It should also "push for the withdrawal of the draconian laws, including UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967] and PSA (Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978) under which they themselves were incarcerated in 2019", he added.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)