Even as the nearly three-month stalemate on government formation has come to an end, the ruling party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is mired in fresh controversy with Member of Parliament Tariq Karra questioning the induction of some senior leaders in the Council of Ministers by Mehbooba Mufti.
Karra boycotted the oath-taking ceremony and has sought removal of three senior leaders Haseeb Drabu, Altaf Bukhari and Naeem Akhtar. He blamed them for being in the “forefront” of a “coup” against Mehbooba Mufti when the latter was negotiating the re-alliance with the BJP.
Karra said during his one-on-one meeting with Mehbooba, he had requested her to take action against the three leaders to send out a message to the party.
“Mehbooba has now sent out the message that backstabbers are rewarded,” he told over phone from Jammu.
Karra’s claims have given credence to the reports about possible defections in the PDP as a section of the party wanted to form the government with the BJP without Mehbooba to end the political stalemate. With Mehbooa not including Bukhari in the Council of Ministers, the PDP has lent credence to such reports.
As it is widely believed that the threat of a break-up of the party pushed Mehbooba to enter into a re-alliance with the BJP and also forced her to drop demands of time-bound implementation of the “Agenda of Alliance.”
Karra said that Drabu, Akhtar and Bukhari failed Mufti Mohammad Sayeed when the latter was Chief Minister. He called the three leaders “hate icons”. He said they had distanced the cadres from the party and their actions were anti-people.
“Drabu is behind all the confusion that exists between the PDP and the BJP. He sold dreams to Mufti Saheb. Akhtar created an anti-PDP constituency,” he said.
Drabu and Akthar did not respond to repeated calls. However, Bukhari said the allegations levelled against him were not true.
“Tariq Karra has been changing his stand since the day the BJP-PDP coalition was formed last year in the state. His accusations against party leaders are utterly disgraceful,” Bukhari said.
On being dropped as a Minister, he said it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister to choose the Cabinet. “I have full faith in the decision of Mehbooba Mufti,” he said.
Congress boycotts ‘unholy’ alliance
The Congress in Jammu and Kashmir today boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of the Mehbooba Mufti government in protest against the imposition of the President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and termed the new PDP-BJP combine as an “unholy” alliance.
The BJP, however, was quick to hit back at the Congress and asked it to “look into the past” when its governments at the Centre had “dismissed” non-Congress dispensations in the states.
“We boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti as this coalition was unholy from the very beginning. The BJP-PDP government is a plan of RSS,” state Congress chief Gulam Ahmed Mir told reporters.
“RSS is destroying all institutions in the country. First they destroyed educational institutions and other bodies and now they are targeting elected forums like in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It (the boycott) was aimed at protesting this,” Mir said.
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu, who was here to attend the swearing-in ceremony, however, criticised the opposition party by listing instances when its governments at the Centre “dismissed” non-Congress governments in the states.
