Working President National Conference and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Tuesday said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have a right to know what PDP got from New Delhi that prompted it to form government in alliance with BJP after three months bargaining and theatrical posturing.
Mehbooba Mufti needs to come clean on her meeting with the Prime Minister and what transpired between the two over the so-called confidence building measures that PDP alleged to have sought from the Central Government but a request the BJP denies having received at all, Omar Abdullah said while addressing workers rally at Kalakote in Rajouri district this afternoon.
The former Chief Minister posed several direct questions to the new Chief Minister, saying she will have to explain to the people what PDP got from the Centre or the Prime Minister after three-month dilly dallying in forming the government. She needs to respond to the statement of BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav also who is on record having stated that Mehbooba Mufti didnt ask for anything from the Prime Minister except his blessings, he said.
Omar said Mehbooba Mufti was in fact asked either to form the government or else leave the turf, as BJP was determined to form the government with 20 PDP MLAs who were ready to choose another leader for the PDP legislature party. This caused panic in the Mufti camp, which fearing dismemberment of PDP chose to form the government out of fear and based on a deep sense of insecurity, he said,
The former Chief Minister said those working under duress or fear cannot serve the people, nor can they protect their political interests. A Chief Minister perpetually suspicious of her colleagues and apprehensive about a coup within the party cannot do justice with the institution of the Chief Ministers Office, he said.
Omar Abdullah described the ten-month rule of the PDP-BJP alliance as a complete and total failure on all fronts, saying this was even publicly admitted by Ms. Mufti when she expressed dismay over the implementation of the Agenda of the Alliance. He appreciated the honest admission of Mufti and said had the first spell of the present coalition succeeded in achieving a single noteworthy milestone on governance or developmental fronts, he would have been the first one to congratulate them.
The previous PDP-BJP Government failed to take up a single new project for implementation and even those projects that were initiated during National Conference-Congress led government were put to back burner. He particularly made a reference to Kishtwar power project, which had been conceived with the larger aim of steering Jammu and Kashmir to self-reliance in power sector and said due to lack of vision of the PDP-BJP coalition the executing agency was forced to pack up and leave.
Elaborating on the failures of PDP-BJP Government during its ten month tenure, he said from villages to towns and towns to cities and the State as a whole didnt witness any sort of development. He said the people were subjected to misgovernance and their miseries continued to get accumulated without anyone paying heed.
On the contrary, Omar Abdullah said the three months of Governors Rule witnessed wheels of the Government moving. Not only the held up decisions were taken and implemented, the Governor took effective measures in disbursing flood relief, dismissing absentee doctors, regularising daily wagers and streamlining various services, among other things.
The former Chief Minister also assailed the implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA), saying this Act is not in the interests of the poor people of the State. He said the decision has boomeranged as people have taken to streets. He said his government had decided against implementation as it knew its fall-out and the fact that it would lead to the deprivation of much needed food grains to a large segment of our population.
The Working President of National Conference cautioned the people against divisive policies of the present dispensation and said his party will not allow these machinations to succeed. To save the people from these divisive forces, strengthening of National Conference is imperative, he said and exhorted the cadre to further intensify mass contact drives across the State in order to reach out the people in every nook and corner. He said a strong National Conference is the only answer to all threats and challenges faced by the State. He said the party has been revitalized and restructured at various levels by holding elections and revamping various units.
Earlier, the former Chief Minister inaugurated Gian Public School at Kalakote and exhorted the management to concentrate on overall personality development of students. He said better counseling, in tune with modern educational trends, can place the youngsters in good stead to face the present day competitive world with much more confidence.
Omar Abdullah also asked the management to develop reading habit among students and monitor how many books they read outside syllabi.
Former minister Ajay Sadhotra, Provincial President Devender Singh Rana, Dy Speaker Legislative Assembly Nazir Gurezi and State Secretary Rachpal Singh also spoke on the occasion.
Prominent among those present included Rattan Lal Gupta, Ajaz Jan, Anil Dhar, Pradeep Bali, Shafayat Khan, Bushan Uppal and Bippin Pal.
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