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| Opposition decides to disturb Governor’s address | | | Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
JAMMU, Feb 21: National Conference-led ruling coalition as well as the Opposition parties held separate meetings of their respective legislators to work out strategies for the budget session of the state legislature beginning here on Monday. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bhartya Janata Party (BJP) and National Panthers Party (NPP) are understood to have separately decided to disturb Governor N N Vohra’s ceremonial address to the joint session of the legislature at 1030 hours tomorrow.
Informed sources said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah held a meeting of all of his coalition legislators and hosted a dinner for them at his official residence. Even as Speaker of Legislative Assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone and officiating Chairman of Legislative Council Arvinder Singh Micky were among the invitees, neither of them attended the dinner party in keeping with the tradition of maintaining neutrality. Sources said that NC’s MLA from Budgam and Minister for Animal Husbandry, Aged Syed Ruhullah, (who was in Pune for laying the foundation stone of a management college), NC’s MLA from Habbakadal and Chairperson of State Women’s Commission, Ms Shameema Firdaus and Independent MLA from Langet, Engineer Sheikh Abdur Rasheed, failed to attend but all others MLAs, MLCs and Ministers were present.
Engineer Rasheed, who has sided with the ruling coalition, and Ms Firdaus were reportedly traveling by road from Srinagar to Jammu and they reached here very late in the evening. Sources said that two other of NC’s associate members, namely Charanjit Singh (Independent MLA from Kathua) and Tsetan Namgyal (NC leader who contested as an Independent and was returned from Nobra for second term in 2008) were conspicuously present. J&K Democratic Party Nationalist MLA from Tangmarg and Minister for Agriculture, CPI (M) State Secretary and MLA from Kulgam, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, and Peoples Democratic Front MLA from Khansahab, Hakeem Mohammad Yasin, who have been functioning like Congress party’s “associate members” also participated in the dinner meeting. Sources said that all other MLA, MLCs and Ministers of the ruling coalition were present like they were on this occasion last year.
PDP Legislature Party meeting was presided over by the party chief, Mehbooba Mufti, at her residence. All MLAs and MLCs of the party, excluding MLA Homeshalibugh, Abdul Gaffar Sofi and MLA Pattan, Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, participated in the meeting. Both, Mr Ansari and Mr Sofi were reportedly abroad. Sources said that rest of the 19 MLAs and three MLCs (Murtaza Khan, Nizam-ud-din Khatana and Asgar Ali, attended the meeting. Reports said that BJP and NPP too held separate meetings of their legislators to work out the strategy to be adopted to counter the ruling coalition during the budget session.
These sources said that all three of the major Opposition parties---PDP, BJP and NPP---separately decided to disturb Governor Vohra’s address to the joint session of the legislature tomorrow with intense slogan shouting over a host of issues ranging from “unrest and alienation” to “human rights abuse” and unemployment. In view of these decisions, fate of the obituary references, scheduled to be taken up after Governor’s address, has become uncertain. Members are scheduled to pay tributes to former West Bengal Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, former MP, Aga Syed Mohammad Hussain Motamadi, former MLA Saleem Anwar Dhar and former MLC and veteran journalist, Sofi Ghulam Mohammad, who have all passed away in recent past.
While as BJP and NPP are expected to raise uproar over Justice Sageer Commission report and granting safe passage to the Kashmiri militants and guerrilla trainees who have been in PoK for the last many years, PDP is likely to lay maximum of the emphasis on “unrest, alienation and human rights abuse by Police and armed forces), “disproportionate distribution” of plan additionalities, “freeze” of the peace process, “misgovernance” , corruption and unemployment” in Jammu & Kashmir.
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