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| NC, Azad group unanimously come to rescue of PHE Minister; knock at Patel's door | | House committee probe into land grabbing allegations | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Oct 22: National Conference (NC) and some Congress MLCs have been mulling the option of unanimously coming to the rescue of Minister of PHE and Irrigation Taj Mohiuddin who is facing an inquiry in the upper House of State Legislature.
Sources said that National Conference (NC) is mulling the option of withdrawing names of its MLCs from the house committee while MLCs claiming allegiance to the faction of Congress led by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad have been advised to approach the Speaker of Legislative Assembly Mohammed Akbar Lone against the decision of Chairman of the Legislative Council.
They have been told to plead before the Speaker that Chairman of the Legislative Council Amrit Malhotra constituted a house committee without taking them into confidence, said the sources. They maintained that Azad's group is likely to plead with the Speaker to advice Chairman of the Legislative Council to scrap the house committee since there was no consensus over the demand of lone JKNPP MLC Syed Rafiq Shah to constitute house committee to probe into the allegations that Minister of PHE Taj Mohiuddin had grabbed 14 Kanals of forest land in Sedhav area of Shopian district in Southern Kashmir.
Prior to this, sources said that both Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy and Dr. Bashir Ahmed Veeri are likely to be told to resign from the house committee. They stressed that these two NC leaders are being advised to cite groupism in Congress as reason for resigning from the house committee. Once these two members resign, house committee would be left with three members with one from PDP, one from Congress and one from JKNPP.
The resigning of NC members would itself mean that the committee would become insignificant. Regarding Khan, sources said that Azad group of MLCs are likely to make the privilege motion moved against him by Vijay Bakaya an issue. They added that to cut to size Syed Rafiq Shah, Taj has started a campaign to create an impression that Shah has personnel scores to settle.
On the other side, MLCs who claim allegiance to the faction of Congress led by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad have started a silent 'Save Taj' campaign, said the sources. Acting on the advice from the top, sources said that they are likely to make the constitution of house committee against PHE Minister as 'witch-hunting' by Congress group led by JKPCC President.
The process has already begun as a letter has been sent to Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress President and Leader Sonia Gandhi requesting him to intervene and get the inquiry stalled, which as per the letter is result of infighting in Congress, said the sources. They added that Taj Mohiuddin, who has been claiming proximity with Patel has begun using all his sources to reach the corridors of power in New Delhi.
Regarding the infighting in Congress, it needs to be mentioned here that Chairman of the Legislative Council Amrit Malhotra is regarded close to JKPCC President Prof. Saif-ud-din Soz. However, sources said that Malhotra has never allowed his personal equations to come in the way of his functioning as Chairman of Legislative Council. A well learned advocate and known widely for his integrity, sources said that Amrit Malhotra is unlikely to remain silent over the attempt being made to denigrate the institution of Chairman.
On being contacted, Minister of PHE Taj Mohiuddin said "This is witch hunting. People with personal vendetta are trying to bulldoze the institution of Minister. This issue has already been looked into by the Accountability Commission in the year 2005 and Vigilance Organization in the year 2011. They have both rubbished the allegations." He added that Congress MLCs are likely to approach Chairman and request him to scrap the committee. "I am being targeted for political reasons," asserted Taj.
It needs to be mentioned here that Chairman of Legislative Council (LC) Amrit Malhotra on October 16, 2012 constituted a House Committee to investigate whether or not Minister of Irrigation and PHE, Taj Mohiuddin, had grabbed 14 Kanals of forest land in Sedhav area of Shopian district in southern Kashmir. PDP's MLC, Murtaza Ahmad Khan, has been appointed as Chairman, National Conference's Dr Bashir Ahmad Veeri and Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy and Congress party's Bashir Ahmad Magray have been nominated as its members.
JKNPP's Syed Mohammad Rafiq Shah, who had leveled the allegation through a question, followed by a verbal statement in the upper house of State Legislature on October 11, 2012 has also been associated with the committee. |
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