Many in opposition, including AAP, support government on scrapping Article 370

NEW DELHI: Several opposition parties broke ranks with the Congress and sided with the government in the Rajya Sabha on scrapping the special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, a replay of sorts of voting on crucial bills in the current session of Parliament.

The biggest surprise came from the Aam Aadmi Party, which for the first time took a stand different from that of other opposition parties and supported the government. “India has suffered a huge loss due to terrorism and our party supports this bill, which will pave the way for development of J&K,” AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta said.

Earlier in the day, AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed his support to the government on the issue on Twitter.



The Bahujan Samaj Party, which remained absent during voting on triple talaq bill, too supported the government. BSP MP Satish Chandra Mishra said, “There are more Muslims living in other parts of India than Kashmir. This bill would allow them to go and settle in Kashmir. Also, this bill would pave the way for reservation benefits for Dalits and tribals in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Congress ally Nationalist Congress Party remained absent. Parties such as BJD, TRS, TDP and YSR Congress too supported the government.

Among the BJP’s partners in the NDA, the JD (U) line has always been against fiddling with Article 370. JD (U) member Ramnath Thakur said, “Since 1996, our view is that issues such as Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and other disputed matters should either be resolved by the court or with consensus of people. With these words our party boycotts this bill.”

The JD (U) too remained absent. However, the government got support from all other NDA members, such as the Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, AGP, AIADMK and RPI.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Sanjay Seth resigned from Rajya Sabha on Monday. Seth is the third MP after Surendra Singh Nagar and Neeraj Shekhar to have resigned from the SP as well as the Rajya Sabha in the past one month.