Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 23: Upcoming budget session of the Assembly, starting January 2 with Governor NN Vohra’s Address to joint session of the Legislature, is set to be fiery with Opposition parties gearing up to take on the PDP-BJP coalition Government on Kashmir unrest, which has albeit subsided now to quite an extent, Agenda of Alliance (AoA), functioning of the coalition Government, ration crisis, refugees’ issue etc.
Feeling heat, the PDP-BJP partners were busy in devising their strategy and would give it final touch two days ahead of the start of the session to counter the Opposition charges aggressively and defend working of first ever coalition by the two parties. Developmental works, forward movement on Agenda of Alliance, series of projects from the Centre like new AIIMS, hospitals, higher education learning institutes etc. would be used by the Alliance Government to take fight back to the opposition charging it with doing nothing during its previous six year tenure.
Talks with senior leaders of all major political parties in the Legislative Assembly including PDP and BJP, the ruling partners, National Conference, Congress, CPM and Independents revealed that while the Opposition including the Independents were set to take on the Government on host of issues, the Alliance partners were equally preparing not only to counter the Opposition charges but shift blame on them for fuelling unrest and trying to destabilize the Government.
Kashmir unrest, which had started on July 8 with the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen divisional commander Burhan Wani and continued for over four months before subsiding, could dominate the budget session of the Legislature right from the beginning with major Opposition parties like National Conference and Congress linking the issue with failure of PDP-BJP coalition Government to control the unrest that led to the killing of nearly 90 civilians and injuries to thousands of others, some of whom were left blind in the pellet guns.
Senior PDP and BJP leaders said they have strategy in place.
“National Conference and Congress have no issues. They are trying to make Kashmir unrest an issue but we will counter it effectively,” they said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri said the Government has nothing to hide and was open for debate on all issues. However, he added, the House has to run as per Rules and Procedures.
“The Opposition has right to raise the issues and we are ready to respond. Performance of the Government has been excellent on developmental and other fronts. We are ready to debate all the issues,” Veeri said and hoped the Opposition would help in smooth functioning of the budget session.
Former Assembly Speaker and National Conference veteran Mohammad Akbar Lone said the NC will expose the Government failure that led to unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to large number of civilian deaths.
“The PDP-BJP Government headed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has been a miserable failure. A number of civilians have been killed in the unrest. The unemployment is at its peak. There is no power and water. The Agenda of Alliance has failed to take off. Innocent youths have been put behind the bars. A number of them have lost their eyesight. Schools have been gutted and the Government was doing nothing on all these issues, which we would vigorously pursue in the Assembly,” Lone said.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rigzin Jora said the PDP-BJP Government has been dysfunctional and that would be the party’s major plank in the Assembly session as people in all three regions of the State are suffering.
“There is no Government in Kashmir for the past five months. There has been massive hike in the ration prices and despite that there is ration crisis in many parts. Power is scarce and so is the water. Agenda of Alliance of the coalition has failed to show any results. There have been reports that some Ministers were involved in undesirable practices but the matter was hushed up by the Government and the Minister gave clean chit to themselves,” Jora said, adding these issues would be raised very vigorously.
BJP State president Sat Sharma CA, MLA Jammu West said the Opposition parties including National Conference and Congress were bereft of the issues and they are trying to make issues out of nothing.
“Our Government has made steady progress. Developmental works are apace. Steps have been initiated to implement Agenda of Alliance. There is perfect coordination between the Alliance partners and we are ready to counter any kind of Opposition propaganda in the Assembly,” Sharma said.
National Conference leader and MLA Nagrota Devender Singh Rana said the Assembly session would be stormy as “we will highlight failures of the PDP-BJP coalition Government”.
“There is no name of the Government in Jammu and Kashmir. The Government is a big failure on all fronts be it development, employment, Agenda of Alliance and other functions. The people have lost their hopes on this Government. There are a host of issues which would be taken up in the Assembly session,” Rana said.
CPM’s fourth time MLA in the Assembly, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami said the CPM would take up Kashmir unrest and demand setting up of a Judicial Commission, headed by Retired Supreme Court Judge on civilian killing in the Valley during the unrest period and ban on use of pellet guns.
Independent MLA from Udhampur Pawan Gupta said the Government was virtually surrendering before Hurriyat Conference and separatists and appeasement of the two has crossed all limits, which can’t be tolerated and would be raked up by him in the Assembly.
Gupta, who had served as Minister of State for Finance in the Government previously, said Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu has completely failed in his Ministry and steps mentioned by him in the previous budget haven’t been implemented so far.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel