Aditi Singh, Congress MLA from Raebareli Sadar, has refused to toe party's line on abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. With this, differences can be seen wide open in the Congress party over the scrapping of the controversial Article 370.
"I am in absolute support of the decision. It will help in integrating Jammu and Kashmir into the mainstream," the Congress MLA said.
She further called Modi government's decision "historic", and said it should not be politicised. "As an MLA, in my capacity, I welcome this decision," she said.
Raebareli is a parliamentary seat represented by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Aditi Singh is not the first Congress leader to come out in support of Modi government's decision to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Two Rajasthan Congress leaders too welcomed the move and congratulated the Centre on its decision.
State Minister for Sports Ashok Chandna tweeted: "This comes as my personal opinion. Scrapping of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir is the first decision of the government that I welcome."
"The transformation of Article 370 should not follow dictatorship, rather should be resolved peacefully while winning the trust of people so that none of the citizens of the nation face any challenge in the future," he said.
Another senior Congress leader Dr Jyoti Mirdha, who is a former Member Parliament and granddaughter of Dr Nathuram Mirdha, congratulated the government for it bold step to integrate India.
"Nation first! Opposing for the heck of opposing is no virtue. Join in, congratulate the government for taking a bold step towards integrating India," she tweeted.
Minutes later, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad responded to his party men supporting government's decision.
"I have nothing to do with those who don't know the history of J&K and Congress. They should first study Congress and J&K history, then stay in Congress," Azad told reporters.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi broke his silence over the abrogation of Article 370 and said the nation is made of people and not plots of land.
"National integration isn’t furthered by unilaterally tearing apart J&K, imprisoning elected representatives and violating our Constitution. This nation is made by its people, not plots of land," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
"This abuse of executive power has grave implications for our national security," he added.
The government on Monday revoked Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and proposed that the state be bifurcated into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, a bold decision that seeks to tackle head-on the vexatious 72-year-old problem wracking the soul of the nation.
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