Jammu, June 4 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday rejected the call for joint statehood pitch by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Muft's and termed it as a "political gimmick".

Rejecting the call, former president of the Jammu and Kashmir BJP, Ravinder Raina, said, "There is a lot of difference between Ladakh and J&K. J&K is entirely a border region where Pakistan keeps fomenting trouble. There are security concerns and Prime Minister Modi and home minister Amit Shah are fully abreast with the situation," he added.

"We have seen Gupkar alliance and have also seen how it fell apart like a pack of cards. PDP should not use statehood as a political weapon to score political points," said Raina, giving examples...