After his comment on GoI wanting to install Lone as JK CM, Lone hit back and said that Governor Malik could not rip him apart in media and that his remarks were disrespectful
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, on Tuesday, following controversy over his comment on New Delhi wanting to install JK Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone as the region’s Chief Minister, Malik stated he may not lose his job but there was no telling when he would be shifted.
“As long as I’m here – it’s not in my hands – I don’t know when I will be transferred from here. I will not lose my job but the threat of transfer is there. As long as I’m here, I assure you people that whenever you call me I will come here to pay my tributes,” Mr Malik said at a function in Jammu to mark the death anniversary of Girdhari Lal Dogra, a Congress leader.
Following his comment on the BJP-backed leader, Lone, quoted by news channel NDTV, said that the Governor ‘could not rip’ him ‘apart in the media’ and called his remarks ‘disrespectful’.
“It is not good that you go on TV and portray every Kashmiri as corrupt. It will not be taken. It was a very disdainful, disrespectful characterization of the Kashmiris,” he added.
In an interview with India Today TV, Governor Malik said that there was no political pressure or interference from the government of India, and that he was “completely apolitical”.
Earlier, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah, in a tweet ‘complimented’ the Governor for not allowing BJP and its proxies to form the Government in Jammu and Kashmir.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti also said, in a tweet, that Governor Malik’s decision not to look up Delhi and dissolve the Assembly in JK is ‘unprecedented’, given the ‘history of democracy in the state.’
His comments come after regional mainstream parties staked a claim to form the government at the State level, which subsequently led the region’s Governor Satya Pal Malik to dissolve the assembly minutes later.
Mehbooba Mufti, President of the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had tweeted that she had been trying to send the letter to the Governor, staking claim to form the government, and added that the office was not receiving the Fax.
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Following the dissolution, Omar questioned the timing. “JKNC has been pressing for assembly dissolution for 5 months now. It can’t be a coincidence that within minutes of Mehbooba Mufti Sahiba letter staking claim the order to dissolve the assembly suddenly appears,” he wrote on Twitter.
As Malik dissolved the assembly, Madhav, who is his party’s points man for the state, alleged that “fresh instructions” were given to the two regional parties from across the border to come together and form a government.
In a presser too, Omar dared Ram Madhav to prove his allegations.
“It’s unfortunate that a senior BJP leader has said we have got instructions from Pakistan. I challenge Ram Madhav sahib & his associates to prove this with evidence. You are disrespecting sacrifices of my colleagues who refused to dance at Pakistan’s instructions and died,” he had said.
Madhav had later retracted his statement, saying that if there was ‘genuine love’ between PDP and NC, they should contest the next elections together.
Following the dissolution, PDP had hinted that the party would not move the Court in this regard, saying that there was no option after dissolution of assembly except preparing for new elections.
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone had challenged both mainstream parties to go to court since it would be ‘a blessing in disguise’ for his party.
However, on Monday, former Chief Minister and President Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti said she will go to “people’s court” against Governor Satya Pal Malik’s decision to dissolve the state Assembly instead of allowing her to prove majority in the Assembly.
Earlier, Senior PDP leader Altaf Bukhari had said that the senior leaders of the National Conference, PDP and the Congress have agreed to make an alliance in order to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Bukhari, according to reports, was emerging as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance, however he said that right now he dosen’t know anything beyond the fact that an alliance has been agreed upon to protect the special status of the state.
He had also informed that an official announcement regarding the alliance will be made in one or two days.
Earlier, Senior Congress Leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had confirmed that talks between the three parties are already going on.
While speaking to Free Press Kashmir, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president G.A. Mir had said that he had no information about the meeting, however, he is not against the idea, “given the way communal forces have/ are planning to execute venomous ideas in the state.”
“If, on a national level, like minded people are putting forward their ideas, making it a role model and turning it into one single voice to fight against communal forces, won’t be wrong,” said Mir adding, “The naked-dance BJP has been performing and plans on doing here are evident by the way situation has turned tense here for last 4 years.”
The development happened a day after PDP heavy weight Muzaffar Hussain Baig said that he was ready to join a ‘third front’ if it emerges in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the BJP has said that the three have come together on directions of Pakistan.
In a hurriedly called press conference in Jammu at the BJP headquarters, in reaction to the alliance, BJP leader Kavinder Gupta said, “These parties are coming together to form government on directions of Pakistan just to keep BJP away.”
