SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday alleged that the state’s key opposition party PDP by wooing tainted persons into the party fold has displayed the “bizarre behavior of making the party safe castle for the elements having corruption charges and bad reputation.” Without naming anyone, Omar said that those facing corruption charges and those with bad repute are making beeline to PDP; this has pricked the balloon of falsehood of PDP which was crying hoarse against the menace corruption. “But,” a visibly angry Omar said, “They cannot fool people who know everything what is being cooked to divide them for power politics.”
Urging the workers of his party National Conference during rallies in Budgam, Omar said, “amalgam of opportunists should be taught a befitting lesson because they were hatching a conspiracy against the State and its people to grab power.”
Taking a direct dig at the opposition PDP, Omar said, They have converged yet again to confuse the people by unleashing false and baseless propaganda against National Conference and the Government to attempt at power grabbing.”
Interestingly, Omar Abdullah lapsed into poetic mood and quoted from Iqbal , the bard of the East, a famous couplet Batil Say Dabnay Walay Aey Aasman Nahi Hum, Sou baar Kar Chuka Hai Tu Imtihan Hamara (We, o heaven, are not suppressed by falsehood ! A hundred times you have tested us). He waxed eloquent to recall the sacrifices and struggle his party “National Conference, its leadership and brave workers during the difficult and challenging times had been offering.”
Omar Abdullah said, Your detractors are out to put all hurdles in your way. They want to damage National Conference. This has been their long desire but like in the past you teach them a lesson again and put down their castle of ill designs to the ground.
‘NC bred corruption in J&K’
Peoples Democratic Party has said National Conference was the fountainhead of corruption in the state and it would only need an honest investigation of allegations against its top leadership to bring them to justice.
According to a statement, the party chief Mehbooba Mufti while while addressing workers in Pahalgam constituency wondered why the chief minister had asked people to use RTI to expose the corrupt people joining PDP. She said ,The CM is in control of entire investigation setup and he should be the last person to advise use of RTI because he can have the exposure and prosecution of any guilty person conducted whenever he likes, she said. Mehbooba said the Omar Abdullah government has a lot to answer on corruption issue and if he had not deactivated the institutions like State Information Commission and State Accountability Commission most of the skeletons would by now have tumbled out and some leading lights of the government could have met the fate of A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi.
Mehbooba said there is, of course, need and scope for using RTI Act for seeking information on how the first family of National Conference and most of the coalition ministers amassed assets beyond their known income. It should be invoked to know the truth of Haji Yousufs death; the drug scandal; PHE scam; forest land grab; kickbacks in various projects; Toshkhana properties; construction of palatial residences and acquisition of vehicles of royal standards for the elected representatives. And the process involved in granting repeated extensions to characters like Mushtaq Peer who subverted the most credible process of Entrance Examination, she said.
Mehbooba said the RTI should be used to know the reasons and background of the 400 blue-eyed officials who were granted extensions in Omar Abdullahs tenure and payment of salary from the government exchequer to political appointees whose services have only been utilized for abusing the opposition while occupying plum positions in the secretariat.
Referring to the reported opening of a new shooting range in Shopian, Mehbooba said if this has been done in lieu of Tosmaidan, it would be no solution to the problem. She said the Prime Minister must address this issue very seriously and considering the ecological fragility of Kashmir, its dependence on tourism and the land crunch here such operations should be reduced to the minimum.
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