Reacting to media reports suggesting the Government had initiated the process of nominating the Chief Minister’s brother Tassaduq Mufti to the Legislative Council, National Conference on Thursday asked the Chief Minister to clarify which of her non-performing, corrupt Cabinet colleagues she was willing to sacrifice to officially create space for a parallel Chief Minister in her Cabinet? In a statement issued from Party Headquarters ‘Nawa-e-Subha’ in Srinagar, NC State Spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu also asked the BJP to clarify if they had formally diluted their moral stand on dynastic politics?“The PDP-BJP Government, as per media reports and as expected, has initiated the process of nominating the Chief Minister’s brother Tassaduq Mufti to the Legislative Council, consequently paving his way to the State Cabinet. Improvising on the Honourable PM’s rhetoric, we might soon have a ‘Bhai-Behan Ki Sarkar’ in J&K. Till now Tassaduq Mufti - as the Head of the CM’s Grievance Cell - was functioning as a parallel CM and after his formal inclusion into the Cabinet, the State will now practically and formally have two Heads of Government pulling the Government and the Administration apart in two different directions. Till now Tassaduq Mufti used to humiliate Cabinet Ministers by by-passing them and directly summoning files and senior officers from their departments and now it seems he will soon be summoning the Cabinet Ministers too for direct, official explanations. One can only empathize with them”, the NC State Spokesperson said.
The National Conference Spokesperson also asked for an explanation of how a ‘runaway candidate' from the aborted Anantnag Parliamentary elections was being deemed capable of holding a permanent seat in the Legislative Council. “What happens to all the promises made by this gentleman to the people of Anantnag during his campaign there before the election was aborted after PDP feared an imminent and resounding defeat? One had thought the ‘runaway candidate’ would at least pretend to serve the constituents of the Anantnag Parliament Segment after he ran away from the Lok Sabha elections but it seems that was just an opportunity to seek power that has been replaced by another opportunity to be an unelected part of the Government now”, the NC State Spokesperson added in the statement. The NC State Spokesperson also questioned the stand and shrill rhetoric of the BJP on ‘dynastic politics’. “As the Prime Minister and the BJP continue to speak against ‘dynastic politics’ – one wonders how they are going to justify a clear case of sheer nepotism and abuse of power in their Government in J&K. Have they changed their stand in Jammu & Kashmir by first allowing the ‘father-daughter’ ascension and now paving way for ‘two siblings’ in the same Cabinet? The BJP owes an answer to its voters if not the people at large”, he added. (CNS)