Jammu, Oct 28: Post UT-cabinet expansion, J&K Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has slightly tweaked its goalpost, by adding composition of newly-formed Council of Ministers triggering open rebellion in National Conference much to its glee, to its kitty to target the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his party.
BJP leaders, in general and the Leader of Opposition (LOP) in J&K Legislative Assembly Sunil Sharma in particular, for the past few months had been prophesying the “fall of NC government as and when it effected cabinet expansion and reshuffle.”
Now, when the expansion is over and veteran NC hopefuls, who have failed to secure a berth, are not mincing words in sharing their grouse out in the open, the scenario has come as a “much-desired handle” for BJP (besides other opposition parties) to beat NC with it. BJP, however, has also latched on to the composition of new Council of Ministers, by picking “religious and regional imbalance” in it to aim barbs at its bête-noire (NC). Dropping of independent legislator Satish Sharma has also been included in its ammo by BJP to launch a renewed offensive against NC.
As LoP Sunil Sharma, moments after expansion aired his views on these lines in Srinagar, the clue was picked up by the entire unit.
The party unit in Jammu on Wednesday accused the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of “reverting his party National Conference (NC) to its original form ‘Muslim Conference’ by perpetrating religious and regional bias against Jammu division and drastically curtailing its representation while expanding his cabinet.”
J&K BJP chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi, joined by other spokespersons Dr Abhijeet Jasrotia, Zorawar Singh and Parimoksh Seth, while addressing a press conference at party headquarters at Trikuta Nagar, Jammu, alleged the expansion reflected that the Chief Minister was in “punishing mode against Jammu region, Hindus of Jammu by denying any representation to Jammu plains.”
The party also took exception to the removal of independent legislator Satish Sharma from the cabinet and alleged that CM Omar and his party gave “precedence to promoting corruption and accommodating faces closer to NC leadership.”
“CM Omar has constituted his kitchen-cabinet where the only criterion for ministers is their proximity to him (CM),” Sethi alleged.
He said it was being expected that the Jammu division, which had three ministers, including two representing Hindu community in the earlier 6-member cabinet, would get an increased representation with the addition of one or two more ministers from the region, following expansion.
“The expansion, however, hurt Jammu region’s cause by further curtailing its already inadequate representation in the cabinet. Earlier the 6-member Council had only two Hindu faces. Contrary to expectations of an increase in community representation, one of two Hindu ministers was also dropped, leaving the composition to only one Hindu minister against eight Muslim ministers. Muslim Conference was rechristened as the National Conference in the past. But now CM Omar has turned it back to Muslim Conference. This also raises questions over the representational character of NC and this government. Will it represent only one region and one community?” Sethi questioned.
Throwing another poser, J&K BJP chief spokesperson asked, “Our question to NC is why Satish Sharma has been removed against whom there are hardly any charges of corruption or any other wrongdoing. Ironically, those against whom there were allegations of corruption, have been retained.”
“Is the NC trying to say there is no place for a person with a clean image? We are not here to give certificates to anyone, but those facing serious allegations have been retained, while a clean-image minister has been dropped,” he reiterated.
He added that if the NC wanted to drop Satish Sharma, it should at least have accommodated its other Hindu MLAs.
“What message has the government given to the people of Jammu? The plains of Jammu have no representation in the Council of Ministers. How can the people of Jammu expect justice from this government?” he asked.
Prophesying “imminent fall of NC government”, he recalled BJP earlier also maintained that NC would start disintegrating right from the day it effected cabinet expansion as its leaders’ aspirations for own progress exceeded the urge to serve people of J&K.
Sethi said the events within the NC after the reshuffle clearly indicated that the party was headed for a split and could be wiped out from J&K’s political scene. He pointed to NC leaders openly opposing the party leadership and supporters shouting slogans against the party.
“Many are not speaking publicly, but there is strong resentment within the party,” he claimed.
He alleged that the NC had tried to contain the rift by accommodating senior leaders loyal to Omar Abdullah.
“It seemed that the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wanted to “punish” the Hindu community for voting for the BJP. The coming time is dangerous,” he claimed.
Sethi, however, rejected the speculations of BJP making any attempt to engineer dissension within NC to disintegrate it. “We are not in touch with anyone and we don’t need to do it as the Chief Minister, himself, is accomplishing the job quite efficiently,” Sethi maintained while taking a dig as he referred to disgruntled NC leaders, including Abdul Majid Larmi and Mubarak Gul.
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