news details |
|
|
| Will CM oblige PDP chief by endorsing her pious demand? | | Probing Assets Of Politicians | | Rustam
JAMMU, Nov 3: Will Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the coalition government that he has been heading since January 2009 oblige People's Democratic Party president and Leader of opposition in the Legislative Assembly Mehbooba Mufti by accepting her pious and well-meaning demand seeking the appointment of a commission to look into the circumstances under which all politicians post-1975 made their assets? Mehbooba Mufti yesterday termed the ruling National Conference as the "fountain head of corruption in the state". "Jammu & Kashmir needed a commission to probe all politicians for their assets post-1975" and also offered herself for any kind of probe.
Actually, the PDP leader, whose party stands for self-rule and supra-state measures and India-Pakistan joint control over Jammu & Kashmir, reacted very sharply to the oft-repeated claim of Chief
minister Omar Abdullah that the fundamental factor responsible for the menace of corruption is the rise of a coalition era and that if this problem is to be surmounted, there has to be a one-party rule in the
state. This was the line Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took to defend his government accused of promoting and shielding corrupt elements in his Council of Ministers. It is obvious that our Chief Minister is following in the footsteps of the prime minister and defending the indefensible. It's no wonder then that she debunked the claim of the Chief Minister and asserted that the "NC is the fountain head of corruption in Jammu & Kashmir irrespective of whether it was in coalition or enjoyed two-thirds majority in the assembly".
Mehbooba Mufti just not stopped there. She went on to say that it is the NC which has "accorded social respectability to corruption after their two-decade-long hunger in wilderness between 1953 and 1975".
"Until the leader Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah began his second innings in power in (February) 1975 with allocation of prime state land to his family, corruption is still viewed with contempt in the state…One wonders how a family in which no member ever did a proper job or business except politics is now among the richest in the state if one goes by their declared assets…Abdullah is using coalition as an alibi to cover up his failure in tackling corruption as he lacked moral credibility following allegations against him in the Yousuf Haji death case…Otherwise he has been a beneficiary of the Congress indulgence which stood by him more vocally than even his own party when he faced the serious charges. Similarly, Union Minister and president of NC Farooq Abdullah continues to be a party of the UPA Cabinet when he should have been in the company of A Raja (former Telecom Minister
belonging to DMK) and Suresh Kalmadi (former chairman of Common wealth Games and Congress leader and MP) for his role in the swindling of money meant for promoting cricket in the state," she also reportedly said.
The PDP president meant what she said and it became clear when she offered herself for a probe. Her demand should not be dismissed as something silly and preposterous. There is a point in her demand that needs to be appreciated and acted upon in the best interest of the people of the state who know where the shoe is pinching. Indeed, there are politicians post-1975 who have become multi-millionaire overnight. It is hardly necessary to figure out a particular politician. For, there are many politicians in the state who were virtually popper before they joined politics to promote their selfish agendas and amass
wealth using questionable means. The PDP president has not croosed the line by saying what she said and, hence, it would be only desirable if her demand is accepted forthwith and a high-powered commission appointed to do the pious job.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
