Jammu, August 12 (KNS) : The chain hunger strike for the restoration of statehood launched by the congress party entered into third day here today which was led by the Congress committee district Kathua in which all prominent leaders of the party from the district observed day long hunger strike which was joined by senior leaders o the party from other parts also at Shaheedi Chowk Jammu.

Former M.P. Ch. Lal Singh, former Minister Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma, Former Legislator Th. Balbir Singh, DCC President Pankaj Dogra, and several other prominent leaders of the district observed hunger strike for the day. The PCC Coordinator for the district Th. Balwan Singh alongwith DCC President led the hunger strike from the district today which was joined by several senior PCC leaders including working president Shri Raman Bhalla, Former minister Mula Ram, Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma, Ex-Minister Yogesh Sawhney, Former MLC Ved Mahajan, Rajnish Sharma(Treasurer), Kanta Bhan , Namrata Sharma,Shakeel Shah, Praveen Sarwar Khan, Vijay Sharma, Santosh Majotra, Praveen Akhtar, Sanjeev Panda, Neeraj Gupta , Vijay Shastri, Kapil Singh, M.R. Bhamagi, Anuradha Sharma, Suman Wazir, Jahoor Tantery ,Mehul Abrol, Sahil Dogra ,Jatinder Chib, Happy Randhawa, Rakesh Sharma, Dara Singh, Pradeep Bhalla.

Prof. H.R. Sharma, Virninder Manhas, Vijant Pathania, Rakesh Sharma Nasir Masih and others

They raised slogans " Hamari Riyasat Hamara Haq " , restore full statehood, statehood is right of 1.40 cr of J&K residents etc.

Prominent leaders of Kathua who participated in the hunger strike today include Robin Sharma, Bhagmal Sharma, Ch. Yaqoob, Yog Raj, Jatinder Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Sub. Chanda Singh, Vishu Andotra, Vinay Kumar, Ram Lal Bhatti, Surinder Verma, Karan Bandral, Subash Chander, Pawan Sharma, Dr. Satish Kumar, Pt. Govind Ram, Master Amar Nath, Mast Ram, Rakesh Sharma, Narinder Khajuria, Arun Mehta, S. Harminder Singh, Pushpa Devi, Bindu Bala, Yash Paul, Dilawar Chandel, Vishal Sharma, Ravinder Kumar, B.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelL. Kanlly, Jaswant Singh Kaka, Raman Thappa, Suman and others

In a statement issued Raman Bhalla said that Congress party is fighting for the rights of people to restore their dignity, status and identity which was snatched by the BJP Govt. arbitrarily and unconstitutionally on Aug. 5, 2019 and has not been restored after more than six years despite repeated promises on the floor of the house and before the Supreme Court.

He said that Congress shall continue its struggle to achieve and safeguard the rights of the future generation with regard to land, jobs and natural resources

Hitting out at the BJP for disbanding and downgrading the historicl Dogra State, Former MP Ch. Lal Singh charged BJP of depriving the people of the Dogra identity and insulting the dogras. He said that the land, jobs and natural resources of J&K are being sold out under the garb of UT and doe six years they are befooling the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He asked the people to join the struggle for restoring their dignity , identity , status and rights.

Th. Balwan Singh accused BJP of exploiting the people in the name of region and religion and doing a great disservice to the people Dogra region by depriving them of their basic rights and identity in a most arbitrary and undemocratic manner. H e lauded the congress workers for their dedication to the cause of common people.

Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma criticized the BJP for the betrayal with the people of J&K especially Jammu region for not restoring the statehood after six years after getting mandate in the name of granting statehood immediately after Assembly elections. He said that struggle shall be intensified further to get our basic rights and identity.

DCC President Pankaj Dogra thanked the cadres of the district for joining the hunger strike in large numbers and assured the leadership that the struggle shall be intensified in every nook and corner of J&K to achieve the goal.(KNS)