Srinagar:
The BJP has promised to reserve lawmakers' seats in Jammu and Kashmir for Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, and also refugees from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
In its vision document for the state, where staggered voting is under way, the BJP has reached out to thousands of Kashmiri Pandits displaced from the Valley when militancy broke out in the 1990s. The party has assured three seats for them in the state assembly, but from the Kashmir Valley's share, which can be controversial in the Muslim-majority region and is seen as inconsistent with its national policy against religion-based quota.
The release of the vision document synchronises with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch today for the party in Jammu for the second round of voting next Tuesday.
The document is silent on Article 370, which has been a staple in the BJP's manifestos. The party has for several decades been shrill in its demand that the article that grants special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir, be scrapped. It has been a key political agenda for the BJP's ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS.
But the party appears to have tempered its stand in its attempt to gain ground in Jammu and Kashmir, where it is working on "Mission 44", its plan to win 44 plus seats in the 87-member assembly and form government.
At a rally in Jammu last year, Mr Modi, then prime ministerial candidate, had suggested a debate into whether Article 370 has benefited the state and its people.
More recently in November, Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, "Article 370 is a national issue & there could be an extensive debate on this issue. In assembly polls development &governance are imp issues."
Sources say the release of the vision document was delayed due to a divide within the party's state unit over Article 370.
There was record polling in the first phase of the election on Tuesday, with more than 70 percent people showing up to vote.