Seeking decisive mandate from the people of the State, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and former Chief Minister said that the people of J&K are yearning to witness a sustained and effective phase of development and progress, and it is Congress-led Government which can fulfill this dream of the people of the State.
“We have a credible track record of performing excellently on the front of development, growth and infrastructure building, and therefore, Congress-led Government will be a very viable option for the State at this juncture,” Azad said in a statement to KNS.
“Entire State has seen my performance on the parameters of development, infrastructure-building, good governance and work culture, and we are seeking a decisive mandate from the people on the basis of that record,” he added.Azad was campaigning at various locations in the upper reaches of Reasi, Gool-Arnas, Gulabgarh- Mahore and Chenani constituencies today. He was accompanied by Ambika Soni, AICC general secretary, Ajaz Ahmad Khan, MLA Gool Arnas, Jugal Kishore Sharma, MLC and contesting candidate, Krishan Chander Bhagat, Sitting MLA Chenani, Ch Mumtaz contesting candidate Gulabgarh-Mahore.Azad said that though exploitative, pisive and region-specific parties have again started a high pitch election rhetoric to befool the people of the State, “but the silver lining is the fact that the wise and sagacious people of the State have decided to reject the persionary, emotional and exploitative rantings of these parties to revive an era of progress and prosperity in the State.”
“We are faced with a gigantic task of reviving the flood-ravaged economy, rebuilding public infrastructure on a fast-track basis and creating employment opportunities for the youth, and our political leaders have once again started a sterile discourse of emotional blackmail for the sake of gaining power,” Azad said and added that people have learnt a lot form the past experiences and this time people of the State are determined to defeat the non-performing and exploitative forces.Cautioning the people against the ‘pisive and polarizing agenda of BJP’, Azad said, “They have exploited the people of the State for the last sixty years on Article 370, and now are asking them to forget this issue for the sake of gaining power.”
“People of the State, especially Jammu are feeling cheated by the exploitative machinations of BJP as in their desperation to attain the goal of power, they have forsaken their core ideology, and are even seen hobnobbing with the separatists,” he said.Reacting to the allegations of BJP about alleged ‘Roshini Scam’, Azad said that BJP has become issueless and bankrupt as they have gauged the mood of the people in the first phase of elections and now are using pisionary and misleading methods to exploit the people.“They have already exploited the people of Jammu & Country in the name of Article 370 for the last sixty years, and now for the sake of attaining power have deleted the same from its manifesto even,” said Azad.
Azad claimed that the Roshini scheme was a marvelous pro-poor and people-friendly measure of his government which has benefitted lacs of poor people of the State, notwithstanding the mischief and wrongdoings by certain unscrupulous elements in the system.He said that the move was aimed to regularise the occupation of those poor people who were holding possession of such lands since decades in order to safeguard them from the clutches of rapacious elements in the system.“However, certain unscrupulous officials have tampered with the revenue records to change the titles of the land and upon coming to know about such distortions and abuse of the scheme I, from a public platform at Kathua in December 2013, demanded a probe into the wrongdoings. Vigilance Organisation has already initiated a probe into the matter,” said Azad adding that if voted to power he will complete the probe in the matter in the shortest possible time.
Targeting the BJP for spreading misinformation and canards as they believe in exploiting the people of Jammu only, Azad said that they must go through the CAG reports on Gujarat where all procedures were thrown to winds for distributing thousands of kanals of State land to Ambanis, Adanis, L&T ,ESSARs, etc, adding that nobody can raise a finger on me for showering benefits on industrialists or anybody else.Asserting that the Congress-led Government of 2006-08 demonstrated to the people of the State how large-scale infrastructure building and sustained developmental activity could be undertaken across the length and breadth of the country with equity and efficiency, Former Chief Minister said that people of the State have decided to revive that era of all-round development and that this resolve of the people has unnerved many a political parties prompting them to play with the sentiments of the people for the sake of gaining power.Reminding the people of the momentum which growth and development received in just two & half years of Congress-led rule with thrust on inclusiveness and efficiency, Azad asked is there any political party which can outcompete our performance?“I ask the people is there any political parties which has better performance than us on the front of development and good governance?” said Azad.
Referring to the construction of Mughal road connecting Kashmir Valley with Pir Panjal, Azad said all the regional political Parties in J&K tend to appropriate this project, however, it became reality during his tenure as Chief Minister, when the foundation stone was laid and actual execution was started.He said, in the limited span of two and half years, the road was made motorable, notwithstanding the fact that stay of Supreme Court also delayed the work for a substantial period of time, adding that it is these credentials which we are presenting to the people to seek their mandate.“I knew many projects in J&K which were going on for decades and they were sold to the people perpetually, but we showed the way in execution of projects,” said Azad,
Urging the people to give decisive mandate to the Congress Party to realize the dream of making J&K a power-surplus State, Azad said that he as Chief Minister, besides taking steps for the early completion of all ongoing power projects, also decided to set up creative institutions like Chenab Valley Power Projects Corporation (CVPPC) and introduce innovative tools like international tariff-based bidding for enhancing the generation capacity expeditiously.
Lambasting the political parties trying to take a moral high ground, Azad said that while every political party has right to involve in political activities, but people of the State should not be misled by selling the slogan of stopping the BJP, as their role in piding the secular vote has been fully seen by the people in the Chenab Valley in the first phase of elections.“They should introspect and do some soul-searching, and should not try to shed crocodile tears on the rise of BJP or pretend to be well-wishers of Kashmiris or assume to be flag-bearers of secularism”, said Azad adding that they stand exposed before the people of the State.
He said, we are going to the people with the track record of Congress-led Government on the front of development and people of the State are massively responding to the agenda that is being placing before them.Reacting to the statement of Ms Mufti denying accepting the support of Congress Party, Azad asked when we did we offer support to PDP adding that we are seeking decisive mandate from the people of the State and he is confident that people will vote for development and not hollow slogans.
“Does not everybody in the State know that PDP has been supporting BJP and not any other political party?” asked AzadHe said that we are going to the people with our model of 2006-08, while PDP will replicate ‘Gujarat model’ in the State which proves beyond any point that they do’t have any paradigm to offer to the people of the State.