New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a marathon meeting for nearly three hours with 14 political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir at his residence. he told the leaders that the promise of giving back the status of a State to Jammu and Kashmir stands and the Centre is keen to have elections in the Union territory after the delimitation of the Constituencies is completed.

The visuals of the meeting showed Prime Minister Modi greeting the invited leaders warmly.

The participants posing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the meeting on Jammu and Kashmir

Those who are attending the meeting are Former Chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omer Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mehbooba Mufti; former deputy chief ministers Dr Nirmal Singh, Tara Chand, Muzaffar Beg, Kavinder Gupta and the heads of political parties M Y Tarigami (CPM), Bhim Singh (Panthers’ party) Altaf Bukhari (Apni Party) Sajjad Ghani Lone (Peoples’ Conference) G M Mir Congress, Ravinder Raina, BJP.

Besides, Home Minister Amit Shah, MOS in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh and Lt Governor Manoj Singh are also present in the meeting.

Leaders emerging from the meeting said Prime Minister said he wanted to end the distance "between Delhi and their hearts." He told the JK leaders that the youth of Kashmir have immense talent and they would surely contribute a great deal towards nation-building.

He said the loss of each life in J&K due to violence and terrorism was painful and must be averted.

He said the institutions of the Panchayati Raj must be strengthened and also asked all parties to join the exercise of the delimitation as it's only after that exercise that the elections in the UT will be held.

Home Minister Amit Shah gave an overview of the developmental plans for UT. He said the generation of employment and economic development of J&K was the top agenda of the government.