Legislators urge Omar to be assertive
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Apr 4:The ruling alliance lawmakers led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today passed resolutions calling for respecting people’s mandate and condemned the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill by the Parliament.
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The resolutions were passed in the ruling alliance legislature party meeting, chaired by Chief Minister and attended by National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, was held at Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary’s residence at the Gupkar Road here. The meeting was also attended by Cabinet Ministers, all NC MLAs, four Congress legislators, led by chief whip Nizamuddin Bhat, and Independents supporting the Government. However, MLA MY Tarigami, Congress president Tariq Hamid Karra and former Congress president GA Mir were not present due to their engagements.
The meeting stressed the need for “respect to people’s mandate”, asserting their Government’s efforts towards building a coordination with the Lt Governor led administration should not be construed as their weakness.
National Conference chief spokesperson and MLA Zadibal Tanvir Sadiq told reporters here that the meeting held a threadbare discussion on various issues and passed two important resolutions. “One condemning the passing of the Waqf (Amendment) bill (in both houses of parliament), which we consider anti-minority,” he said.
He said the National Conference-led Government wants a cordial relation with New Delhi and the Raj Bhavan here, but it should not be considered as “our weakness”.
“We want to run this Government with love and respect and work smoothly. It should not be construed as our weakness. We are repeatedly saying this, and this is our final request that do not push us to the wall. We want coordination among the Centre, LG Government and our Government. Do not consider our silence as weakness,” he said.
“We are repeatedly saying this and this is our final request that do not push us to the wall,” he said.
“The elections in Jammu and Kashmir were praised by the top leadership of this country for enthusiastic voting. And, now if anyone stands in a denial mode or tries to undermine it, is showing disrespect to the people’s mandate,” the spokesman said.
Nizamuddin Bhat of Congress said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the prevailing political situation and the Constitutional and administrative affairs.
“Both long term and short term issues of immediate consideration came up for discussion during the meeting… everyone should understand that all the MLAs in the alliance are fully behind the leader of the House – Omar Abdullah,” he said.
Bhat said the party’s pradesh president Tariq Hamid Karra and Legislature Party leader G A Mir could not attend the meeting due to another important meeting of the party in Delhi. “I was given a mandate to accompany the other three MLAs in the meeting,” he said.
Bhat said there was unanimity that all the issues will be resolved with New Delhi and the Raj Bhavan.
“The Government regards the LG’s move as a violation of the legal and administrative framework under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act,” he said.
In the meantime, legislators told Excelsior that the majority of the lawmakers urged the Chief Minister to be assertive.
“We urged him that the elected Government should take tough action against the officers who are not cooperating with the elected representatives,” they said. “They said that as there is non-cooperation from the administration with them people are ultimately suffering”.
The legislators said that the lawmakers suggested that the Chief Minister should act tough now otherwise there will be more trouble for the elected Government in future. “We also suggested that the Government should use privilege motions against the officers so that they cooperate with the legislators,” they said.
The legislators further said that they also suggested to the Chief Minister to post New Revenue officers and let those posted by the LG have the role of magistrates only. “We also suggested that the current Assembly session should be extended by a few days so that these important issues are discussed and future courses are formulated,” he added.
The meeting was called by the Chief Minister after differences between the Omar led Government and the Raj Bhavan over several administrative issues, but LG’s this week’s order to transfer and post 48 Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) officers escalated the disquiet.
Expressing his strong disapproval of the transfer order, Omar wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, LG Sinha and the Chief Secretary, asserting these orders were issued without any “lawful authority” and undermine the authority of the elected Government.
In his letter Omar said a series of actions by the LG, including the contested transfers, have eroded the authority of the elected Government, highlighting a growing tension between the elected administration and the LG’s office.
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