Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 22 : National Conference leader Omar Abdullah today asked Governor Satya Pal Malik to make reports about use of money and horse-trading in Government formation in the State public. He said that the people had a right to know who was buying the MLAs and who was funding it.
Omar, while speaking to reporters at a press conference in Srinagar, said Governor should make it public that at whose behest money was being brought in for horse trading.
“If the Governor has himself accepted that MLAs were being bought over, money was changing hands, people should know who was doing it. If the Governor has such reports, he should make them public. These are not our accusations. It was the Governor who said horse trading was happening and money was changing hands. We want to know where did this money come from. We want to know at whose behest this money was being given and who was being bought”, he said.
The former Chief Minister said while the allegation of use of money and horse trading could not apply to grand alliance that his party was part of, the Governor was referring to another letter in which Peoples Conference chairman, Sajjad Gani Lone, had staked claim for Government formation.
“The Governor said horse trading and use of money for engineering defections had to be stopped. In our case, three parties (PDP, Congress and NC) came together. This accusation does not stand against us that money was used here”, he said.
“After our letter (Mehbooba Mufti’s letter to Governor), another letter was sent to Governor claiming support of 16 or 18 MLAs. The Governor has said on this letter that this is horse trading and money was changing hands. This cannot be ignored,” Omar said.
The NC leader said Governor gave reasons for not accepting the PDP claim for Government formation as it had parties with different ideologies. “The Governor gave reasons for not accepting the claim by the PDP. He said parties with different political ideologies were coming together”, he said.
Omar said why was not it questioned in 2015 when BJP and PDP tied up. “Did you ask this question in 2015 when BJP and PDP tied up? That time it was dubbed as coming together of North pole and South pole, you had no problems then. Today, you are telling other parties that you cannot come together even though the difference on some important issues between PDP, NC and Congress are small compared to BJP and PDP,” he said.
The NC leader said as far as National Conference is considered, they had made it clear that they do not want to be part of the Government but will lend outside support so that strong defence could be mounted for safeguarding Article 35-A before the Supreme Court.
Omar said that his party wanted to defend the Article 35-A by giving outside support to grand alliance.”As far as National Conference is considered, power was not our aim. We were not going to be part of this Government. We wanted that Article 35-A be defended in the Supreme Court to protect the special status of State. We want to bring the State out of the present mess, knowing fully well that the National Conference would have suffered the most politically. But we kept the party interests on the back burner in the larger interests of the State,” he said.
Omar angrily reacted to the allegations levelled by some BJP leaders that the PDP-Congress-NC alliance was formed at the behest of Pakistan. “If you have courage Ram Madhav, bring the proof of your accusation to the people’s Court. Let us see where you stand. Stop this politics of cowardice. We have seen a lot of people like you who indulge in shoot and scoot politics. You level baseless allegations and then lie low. You should either give proof of allegations or apologise,” he said.
Omar said the BJP leaders were disrespecting the sacrifice of nearly 3000 National Conference workers who were killed for refusing to do Pakistan’s bidding. “I am sorry Ram Madhav, you are disrespecting the sacrifices of my 3000 colleagues who refused to dance to the tunes of Pakistan. They died because they did not take instructions from across the border. More of my workers have died in these 30 years than your workers have ever died. You are asking us about sacrifices and what we have done for the country. What we have done we know it,” he added.
Omar said the dissolution of Assembly showed the relevance of the mainstream political parties. “Ram Madhav is not unhappy over PDP, Congress and NC coming together. He is unhappy that his dream of forming a Government in the State remains unfulfilled. If anything, that shows our relevance,” he said.
Asked if his party would challenge the dissolution of the Assembly in the Court, Omar said his party did not have a reason to do so. “We do not have any basis on which to challenge the Governor’s decision. The primary party that can challenge the decision is the party which had sent the letter (staking claim for Government formation). The letter went from the PDP to the extent that National Conference had verbally committed its support and we stand by that decision,” he said.
Omar also made sarcastic remarks about the non-functioning of the fax machine in the Raj Bhawan due to which Mehbooba’s and Lone’s letters could not be delivered to the Governor. “This is the first time that a fax machine has scuttled democracy. This fax machine is strange, just like the traffic management in Srinagar, one way only. This machine stops working on one sign, and starts working on next sign. Only outgoing fax, no incoming fax. This fax machine needs to be investigated,” he said.
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