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| Omar following into Mufti’s footsteps | | |
Early Times Special
JAMMU, August 26
Finally, the opposition noticed the prolonged absence of the Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdullah, from the Legisaltive Assembly, on Monday. The issue created a flutter when some MLAs raised questions about the absence of the ``angry young CM’’.
It all started after Harsh Dev Singh pointed out that the CM had not graced the Assembly for 12 days. As if on cue, some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislators suggested, of course in jest, that an ``FIR should be lodged to locate the missing CM’’.
Mr Singh took on Omar (at large?) when junior minister Manohar Lal Sharma was replying on the CM’s behalf. Some legislators even accused the CM of ``taking the Assembly for granted’’ and its proceedings ``non-seriously’’.
The Finance Minister, Mr A R Rather, said there was nothing wrong in Mr Sharma reading the CM’s reply. Under rules, the CM or ministers can indeed ask their colleagues to hold fort for them in their absence.
The point Mr Singh drove home was that perhaps Omar did not respect the Assembly enough to devote time to it.
Is the presence of a legislator in the House a barometer of his respect for it?
Conversely, does absence mean disrespect?
Usually, ``serious’’ legislators don’t bunk the House just as serious students don’t bunk their classes. In legislatures of other states, and also the national legislature, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the presence of a member is still counted as a virtue.
Given this, Mr Singh’s point about Omar’s prolonged absence as ``disrespect and non-seriousness’’ towards the House appears to be valid.
On the PDP’s suggestion of lodging of an FIR to ``trace the CM’’, it would be wiser for for the party to look inwards, according to a National Conference legislator. Why? Because the PDP patron, Mr Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, is the ``most chronic absentee legislator’’.
Mufti has perhaps not spent an entire day in the House ever since he lost the chief ministership to Ghulam Nabi Azad in November 2005. As such, the PDP had no moral right to talk about Omar’s absentee-ism, the NC leader added.
Willy-nilly, it thus appears that Omar is just following into Mufti’s footsteps, at least as far as absenteeism from legislature is concerned.
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