‘Our focus is to implement our agenda’
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 3: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti today ruled out any tie-up with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir, while Asserting that Government formation after the assembly polls would not be possible without the inclusion of her party.
Hitting out at the National Conference (NC), she claimed the party wants to contest elections just for the sake of Government formation.
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“They have been doing so since 1947. They do not have any aim other than that. They form alliances just for the sake of Government formation, for Ministerial berths,” she said addressing workers at the party headquarters here.
The PDP chief said her party wants to contest elections for an agenda, but asserted that no government formation after the assembly polls will be possible without her party.
“We formed a Government with only 16 MLAs (in 2002). God willing, this time also, no Government will be formed without (the inclusion) of the PDP,” she added.
However, she said the PDP’s focus is more on implementing its agenda and less on government formation.
Mehbooba, whose party formed the coalition Government in 2015 with the BJP, ruled out an alliance with the saffron party after the polls.
The party had joined hands with the BJP for the resolution of the Kashmir issue. Today, there seems to be no scope for that as the BJP has undone all the efforts in that direction, she added.
Later while responding to a question about former NC leader Devender Singh Rana’s remarks that the NC wanted to form government with the BJP in 2014, the PDP chief said whatever her party has done it has done it openly unlike the NC which does things secretly.
“When we were having talks with the Central Government, not the BJP, through Ram Madhav, everyone knew it was done in the open. We brought an agenda and implemented it. We did not do it secretly like Omar (Abdullah),” she said.
“Rana is saying it now, Ghulam Nabi Azad said it before that they (NC leaders) meet them (BJP) in Delhi in the darkness. We do not do anything secretly,” she said.
The former Chief Minister said her party does not have any contact with the BJP and “perhaps there will not be any”.
The PDP chief also accused some police officials of “harassing” the people.
“Some police officers have again become active and are harassing and arresting people by labelling them as OGWs. In the run up to the last elections, many people were arrested.
“I request the LG who says the elections will be free and fair, that SSPs, SHOs have started to harass people and call them to police stations, please tell them to stop this activity and stop harassing common people,” she added.
Asked about Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s visit to J-K on Wednesday, Mehbooba said he is most welcome.
“He wants to come to Kashmir to campaign for his party, he has every right,” she said.
Mufti also highlighted the PDP’s past Government alliances, noting that when they partnered with Congress, their agenda included ending the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), disbanding the Special Task Force, and initiating dialogue. “When we formed a government with the BJP, our agenda was to protect Article 370 and initiate dialogue,” she added.
Criticizing NC vice president Omar Abdullah for blaming the PDP’s alliance with the BJP, Mufti questioned his achievements during his tenure as a Minister in the BJP-led Government. She accused him of implementing POTA, banning Shahtoosh shawls, and downplaying the Kashmir issue on the global stage. “When PDP was in alliance with the BJP, we withdrew FIRs against 12,000 youths,” she said.
Mufti emphasized that under her leadership, the PDP brought Ministers and Members of Parliament to engage in talks with the Hurriyat Conference, even while in Government with the BJP. “I want to ask Omar Abdullah, could he do this? He was also in Government with Congress at the Centre-what did he achieve? You hanged a Kashmiri. I ensured a one-month ceasefire,” she said.
On the occasion Apni Party leader from Charar-e-Sharief Mushtaq Zulhami along with his supporters joined the PDP.
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