SRINAGAR All major political parties in formation of government in Jammu and Kashmir put speculations to rest with former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti saying she was amused over such reports while Congress ruled out possibility of supporting the PDP. National Conference Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also clarified party will not be part of any attempts at government formation.
Conjecture also includes an impending meeting between Sonia ji & I. This is utter fabrication & yet another unfortunate example of #FakeNews!, Mehbooba said on Twitter.
The tweet comes hours after Congress’ core group on Jammu and Kashmir met today to discuss the political situation in the state.
There are reports of the PDP approaching the Congress for government formation in the state.
However, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has ruled out that the party will form a government with the PDP.
On Monday, the congress said it wanted early elections in the state as it ruled out possibility of supporting the PDP for forming an alternate government in the state.
General Secretary in-charge of the state Ambika Soni told reporters after a meeting of the party’s policy planning group on Kashmir that the party will prepare for fresh elections on the basis of its programmes, while a meeting of 100 senior party leaders from all three regions of the state will be held in Srinagar on Tuesday to chalk out the future roadmap.
The policy planning group discussed the prevailing political situation in the state and the way the alliance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “frittered away” its mandate in the state where Governor’s Rule was imposed last month after BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led government.
The meeting, held at the residence of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was attended by former Union Ministers P. Chidambaram and Ghulam Nabi Azad, state Congress chief G.A. Mir and former MP Tareeq Hameed Karra.
It was the second meeting of the group since imposition of Governor’s Rule.
Sources said the group discussed the confidence-building measures taken during the UPA I and UPA II governments and how the BJP-PDP alliance government had failed to meet expectations of people.
The meeting decided that the group will complete its pending visit to Ladakh at the earliest and will visit Kargil and Leh.
Soni later told the media that fresh elections should be held as early as possible.
“We (Congress) want early election in state. We have demanded that there should be an election as early as possible. The roadmap of the election will be discussed tomorrow (Tuesday). We need to strengthen our party first,” she said.
She said Governor’s Rule should not be there in the state for more than five to six months.
Soni said that party leaders, during a meeting with state Governor N. N. Vohra, had demanded dissolution of the state assembly.
“We have categorically asked for democratic processes to be restored. They (PDP-BJP) frittered away a mandate. The question of government formation has not been discussed by the party. The question does not arise.”
The meeting in Srinagar will be attended by party leaders including MLA, MLCs, former and present MPs.
Omar Abdullah said that NC will not be part of any attempts at government formation in Jammu and Kashmir as it does not believe in sacrificing ideology for power.
Speaking at a party meeting in Anantnag, the former chief minister said the NC was in favour of dissolution of the state assembly. He also added there was a need to listen to the “alienated” youth of the state to bring them on board.
National Conference does not believe in sacrificing its ideological basis for power and the party will not be a part of any attempts for government formation through rumoured permutations and combinations,” Abdullah said.
The NC vice president said the party believed in respecting the mandate of the people.
“We believe in respecting the mandate of the people and will not be a part of any attempts to ridicule and manipulate the aspirations of the people. It is for this precise reason that the party has sought the dissolution of the state legislative assembly,” he said.
Abdullah said the NC understood the situation was not conducive for immediate elections in the state but only a fresh democratic exercise could repose the faith of the people in the institutions.
On the governance front, Abdullah demanded an investigation into the use of funds meant for dredging of River Jehlum in the aftermath of the 2014 floods.
What happened to the money meant for dredging the Jehlum? When Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) Sahab formed an alliance with the BJP in 2014, we were led to believe that one of the main reasons for this sell-out was to facilitate the flow of flood relief and rehabilitation funds to the state. What happened to the 80,000 crore package?” he asked.
Abdullah said the moderate rainfall over the past few days had “brought us to the brink of deluge and destruction as our rivers and floods channels were not dredged and de-silted for the past three and a half years”.
“Is there a massive scam here?” he asked.
The NC vice president said while the fall of the PDP-BJP government had brought some respite to the people and reduced public anguish and resentment, the situation in the state was nowhere near what the coalition government inherited in 2014.
The first and foremost concern is the restoration of the situation to what it was before 2014. We have to respect the aspirations and sentiments of the people especially the youth and reach out to them through reconciliatory political initiatives. Neither the political issue, nor the present crisis can be resolved through military or operational means or mechanisms,” he said.
Abdullah also said that while the NC supported restoration of internal autonomy as a solution to the issue, “we should reach out to those who are angry and listen to them. We need to listen to our alienated youth and bring them on board to come out of this situation”.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
