BJP president Nitin Nabin on Tuesday cut short his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, skipping his scheduled pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine and returning to Delhi due to official commitments, a party leader said.
Nabin had arrived in Jammu on Monday afternoon on his first visit to the Union Territory as the BJP president. During his stay, he attended a series of meetings, including a visit to the RSS headquarters, and chaired a joint one-and-a-half-hour-long meeting of the BJP's sitting and former legislators at the party's Trikuta Nagar headquarters.
He was scheduled to offer prayers at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop the Trikuta Hills in Reasi district on the second day of his visit, but the programme was cancelled following a change in his schedule, J&K BJP MLA and spokesperson R S Pathania told PTI.
The BJP gave no official reason for the schedule change. However, party insiders said pressing organisational commitments required Nabin's immediate return to New Delhi, where he is expected to attend an important meeting.
Pathania said the BJP president held a meeting with the party's elected representatives as well as former legislators.
"The discussion focused on how the BJP can further strengthen its presence in Jammu and Kashmir, reinforce nationalist ideology in the region, deepen the people's trust in the party, and address key issues such as security in Jammu and other current matters," Pathania said.
He said Nabin was initially scheduled to hold separate meetings with district and city leaders, elected representatives and former legislators. However, owing to changes in the programme, all the interactions were merged into a single joint meeting.
"Even so, it turned out to be a positive and meaningful interaction," Pathania said.
According to the BJP leader, Nabin's visit remained focused on organisational affairs, with interactions involving party office-bearers, elected representatives, and the public through various programmes.
He said the visit coincided with the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee.
"Jammu and Kashmir is the ideological cradle of the BJP. The party's foundation is rooted in the movement for 'Ek Pradhan, Ek Nishan' (One Constitution, One Flag), which began with the sacrifice of Mukherjee," Pathania said.
Earlier in the day, Nabin visited the RSS headquarters, Keshav Bhawan, at Amphalla, where he met senior Sangh functionaries. He later paid tributes to Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Prem Nath Dogra at Dogra Chowk before proceeding to the BJP headquarters in Trikuta Nagar to chair the joint meeting.
He was also scheduled to address a youth convention later in the day, but the programme was cancelled due to a lack of time.