Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and working president of Opposition National Conference Omar Abdullah on Sunday accused the PDP and BJP of playing games with the state and its people.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and working president of Opposition National Conference Omar Abdullah on Sunday accused the PDP and BJP of playing games with the state and its people.
“@jkpdp & @BJP4India playing games with the state of J&K, tossing the “ball” in to each other’s court. How long more ” he wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter. The jibe came as the PDP said that it cannot form the new government with the BJP unless it has assurances from its alliance partner that their “agenda of alliance” would be implemented in letter and spirit and that the ball is now in its (BJP’s) court.
Meanwhile, the NC asked the PDP as to why it did not you seek “assurances” for 10 months.
“PDP-BJP alliance Mufti’s final legacy, own it or disown it,” it said. It termed PDP’s statement following a party meeting held here earlier during the day as “yet another contemptuous attempt to test the patience of the people and the continued and liberal indulgence of the governor of Jammu and Kashmir”.
The NC said, “A continued delay in government formation has put J&K in a precarious constitutional situation.”
It added that if PDP wants assurances from the BJP about the “agenda of the alliance” now, what was chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed doing for the last ten months “while every single political and developmental promise in the CMP was flouted and broken by both parties in carefully cinematographed fixed matches ”
It also said that the PDP’s alliance with the BJP is Sayeed’s final and definitive political legacy — PDP should either own it or disown it without any further delay.
“There is no third, middle-path,” NC spokesperman Junaid Azim Mattu said in a party statement.
“It will soon be a month since the state has been put under governor’s rule despite two legislative parties with more than adequate numbers in the Legislative Assembly continuing in an alliance. While one empathised with Mehbooba Mufti for her grief that prevented her from taking over after late Mufti Sahib’s demise, she and her party have now made it evident that they will test the patience of the people and the indulgence of the honourable governor to the hilt in an attempt to placate its own disgruntled supporters and also try and create a perception of conscience — one that has never existed,” he said.
He added “such disdainful disrespect for institutional democracy and such effortless flouting of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir is not only astounding but unprecedented”. Mr. Mattu asked if Ms. Mufti and her party want to disown the final political legacy of their founder, they should do so and allow the people of the State to exercise their democratic right to choose a new representative government that not only resumes the responsibilities of governance but also safeguards the sensitive strategic and political interests of the State. “This continued theatre of absurdity by the PDP is not an alternative to the constitutional and political responsibilities of the largest political party in the Legislative Assembly and calls into question PDP’s seriousness in governing the State beyond its own partisan rhetoric and interests”.
The NC spokesman further said “The people of J&K did not participate in elections in such large numbers so that the PDP would first betray their mandate by aligning with the BJP and then for the PDP spokesperson to come out week after week asking the people to continue living in endless political instability”.
“Any further delay in government formation while PDP and BJP continue to be in an alliance would not only be unconstitutional but would also discredit the neutrality and objectivity of political institutions in the State – and for a State like Jammu and Kashmir, this comes with grave risks. We hope the constitution is respected and its principles upheld to safeguard the constitutional rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir”, he said.
