Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 18: Former Finance Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari today challenged senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to prove his allegations against him or otherwise resign from his present position in Parliament on moral grounds.
Reacting to media reports wherein Azad has been quoted saying that some Congress leaders were being threatened to join “Third Front” or otherwise they well get implicated in some false cases, Bukhari said that it is very unfortunate that a leader like Mr Azad is playing cheap politics.
“Let me put it on record that I hold Azad Saheb in high esteem but it is very unfortunate that he has leveled baseless allegations against me and my colleagues stooping so low for doing petty politics,” the former minister observed. Bukhari said that he neither holds any power nor is in any position to misuse State machinery or agencies like has been the precedence in Congress led regimes in the State.
“I have often repeated that I am joined by some of my friends, colleagues and well wishers of Jammu and Kashmir to raise and address the sufferings caused to the people by whosoever has been at the helms of affairs in the State and in the Centre,” Bukhari remarked.
He said that it is a fact that a number of senior Congress leaders are in touch with him but there is no question of coercing them or extending any facilities like Azad has pointed out in his statement. “There are many Congress leaders who share the same vision, passion and motivation to serve their people in their own capacities and thus are coming forward in that direction day by day,” he added.
Mr Bukhari challenged the former CM to prove his allegations and corroborate his remarks or else quit from the position he holds in the Parliament. “It is ironic that Mr Azad was unable to find faults in my memorandum submitted to the Lieutenant Governor but is trying to malign his own colleagues who have come forward out of their own free will to safeguard the interests of people of Jammu and Kashmir, “he said and added that if the allegations leveled against him by Mr Azad, are proven correct, he will not take a second to leave the politics for ever.
Follow our WhatsApp channel