A day after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah raised fingers at LG administration yet again, this time over demolition drive in Jammu, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday took jibe at him, asking him not to “hide behind the lieutenant governor”, saying he needs to stop “raising questions” and start acting.
“The elected government should not hide behind the Lieutenant Governor. The elected Government is answerable. The elected government does not raise questions. They should act,” PDP spokesperson Mehboob Beg told reporters here after a party meeting.
CM Omar expressed anger over demolition drive launched by JDA on encroached land in several areas which also saw dismantling of the house of one journalist.
The CM said officials had resorted to this action without taking consent from the government, while he hit out at LG alleging such actions are intently ordered to malign the image of elected government. The PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti also commented on demolition drive as she held Omar Abdullah led government answerable for dismantling of houses.
However, when the senior PDP leader was asked to comment on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah raising questions over the recent demolition drive in Jammu and Kashmir, he said, “Our elected chief minister is speaking like an opposition leader, like Mehbooba Mufti. He has the mandate, he needs to act. He has to stop making Kashmiris homeless. He needs to take corrective measures for the economy. He does not have the right to raise questions.”
Beg said the people of Jammu and Kashmir did not give mandate to the National Conference (NC) government to express helplessness, but to act urgently.“Did lakhs of people vote for them so that they could act helpless and weak, or say they do not have the authority? If they do not have the authority, the chief minister should tell me why he is there,” Beg jibed.“If they don’t have the authority, if they can’t save the people who are being rendered homeless in freezing temperatures, what are they doing there?” he lashed out at the NC-led Government.Beg said PDP MLAs had brought a bill for granting land rights to people in the recent assembly session, but the chief minister called it a bill for land grabbers.
“This has encouraged the bureaucracy, and they are demolishing homes now. It is perhaps for the first time in Kashmir’s history that people are being rendered homeless in the freezing temperatures,” he said.