Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 16: The depleted opposition in the state Legislative Assembly may not be in a position to force the BJP-PDP coalition Government to be on the defensive in the ensuing budget session.
The strength of the opposition, the Congress and the National Conference, is less than what it was during the previous session when the National Conference, which was in power, had 28 MLAs against 27, a combined strength of the NC and the Congress.
Secondly, the ruling coalition is less than one month old and it has nothing to show by way of its performance or lack of performance because till date the coalition, despite its teething troubles, has been trying to adjust with the new political arrangement. This way the ruling coalition may not be accused of scams and skeletons being kept hidden in its cupboard.
Yes, the opposition could kick up a row or cause disruptions in the Assembly proceedings over any proposal for hiking taxes in the state. But the Finance Minister, Haseeb Drabu, has been told by Chief Minister, Mufti Mohd. Sayeed, in plain terms that he should not impose any fresh taxes which could create a bad impression about the Government, especially about the PDP. Here too the opposition may miss to trigger trouble because the ruling coalition has no plan to impose fresh taxes. Reports said that Drabu has been told that whatever financial stringency the state faced this time could be diluted by liberal financial assistance from the Government of India and from austerity measures that were going to be enforced strictly.
It is in this connection that the top PDP and BJP leaders have already requested Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and Finance Minister,Arun Jaitley,to allocate liberal financial support for Jammu and Kashmir which is yet to complete relief and rehabilitation of flood affected people in various parts of the state |
