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| SAC baggage and Omar's responsibilities | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 24: The State Accountability Commission (SAC) has sought personal appearance of the State Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather in connection with an alleged scam in the smart card contract allotment.
Rather has categorically denied that his son had been allotted the contract for making smart cards for the civil secretariat employees. He also welcomed the decision of the SAC to probe the matter and issue notices to the concerned in this case. The SAC also intends to find out the truth in another allegation against Rather regarding the Wullar Lake development survey. This has also been denied by the Finance Minister.
It is interesting to note that the Finance Minister has said that although the SAC has taken cognizance of an anonymous complaint, he knows the elements those are out to malign him for the last two years. It is high time Mr. Rather made a clean breast and said who he thinks has been trying to tarnish his image in the public.
The SAC is already seized with other issues concerning the Chief Minister, Peerzada Sayeed, his political advisors and according to sources within the SAC, it is likely that the accountability commission will bring in a few more ministers within its scanner in the coming days.
The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently said he is happy that at least an institution has been created in the State during his tenure as the Chief Minister which can call the Chief Minister's actions to question. That is a fine sense of accomplishment for any state government, but the basic problem that the SAC has been questioning the conduct and actions of some of the top political bosses in the State does not augur well for the image of the State government. No elected government would have the time and the inclination to serve the people with an open and free mind when most of its ministers are battling to get their names cleared in commissions of accountability and credibility.
Omar Abdullah's biggest advantage when compared to his father, his predecessors and even his grandfather has been that he started his innings as the State Chief Minister in 2009 with a clean slat and without any baggage of the past.
After that, within a period of just over three years, the ministers in the coalition have been in the news for the wrong reasons. There is infighting within Omar's alliance partners in the Congress party and there are credible reports that some of Omar's ministers belonging to the NC and at least one political advisor of the Chief Minister do not like each other. A situation like that would make discharge of duties and responsibilities difficult for any chief minister in the country, more so for the youngest chief minister whose power depends upon a coalition that is not at ease with itself.
Omar has so far been acting with maturity while dealing with issues concerning the coalition. He even agreed to wait for the decision of the Congress high command when an exam gate surfaced in the state that concerned his school education minister recently. Coalition Dharma is fine, but when more and more of his colleagues come within the scanner of the SAC, the Chief Minister should understand the tide and work to engage in load shedding. Baggages often become burdensome for even the deftest carrier. |
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