Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 31: Referring to the melodramatic rants of BJP Ministers over Jammu’s neglect in the co-ordination committee meeting held on Saturday as a window dressing for the gullible, NPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh said that such deceptive moves could never redeem the lost ground for BJP in its erstwhile bastion.
Describing the co-ordination committee (CC) of coalition partners as a tooth less body, he questioned the authenticity of the decisions taken by it in December 30 meeting with regard to the issues facing the general public especially of Jammu region. He said that BJP Ministers though had raised the issues of Jammu region but in an inappropriate forum as the co-ordination committee devoid of any statutory powers had no authority to take decisions with respect to affairs of the State.
He lamented that the naive Ministers of BJP have still not been able to appreciate that the objective of co-ordination committee is to ensure proper co-ordination and liasoning between the coalition partners and that the legal, developmental issues fell within the domain of the cabinet or respective administrative heads of Govt Depts. He said that discussion, on SRO-202 and review of emoluments of new appointees, reference of vacancies of teachers to SSB, enhancement of compensation to Jammu farmers for land acquisition, treatment of IB residents at par with LoC in the matter of various concessions and facilities etc, under such circumstances in the CC meeting was merely an eye wash and hardly had any meaning until and unless these were discussed and resolved at the appropriate forums by respective Ministers or by the State Cabinet.
Maintaining that not a single issue of Jammu region discussed by CC during the past meetings had been settled, Singh called upon the BJP leaders to refrain from such theatrics as it only evoked cynicism rather than appreciation. Regarding the demand of increase of one more cabinet birth for BJP in the council of Ministers, Singh observed that if the existing eight cabinet Ministers of BJP have failed to prove their worth, how would the elevation of one more MOS to cabinet rank make a difference except of course to the incumbent Minister by swelling his fortunes. If the BJP Ministers have failed to deliver, the fault lies not with the number but with the ability to perform.