STATE TIMES NEWS
RAMBAN/BANDIPORA: Hitting out at her party’s estranged ally National Conference (NC) for the first time in the past six years, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said “we gave full support to them to run the government but they did not implement our programmes and schemes”, including the Food Bill, in the state.
“We gave full support to them (NC) to run the government (in Jammu and Kashmir), but they did not implement our programmes and schemes (in the state),” Sonia told a public rally held here in support of party candidate Ashok Kumar.
Flanked by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni and state party chief Saif-ud-Din Soz, Sonia told the people that by not implementing some of these programmes the NC-led government has denied the people the benefits.
“When our government was at the Centre we came up with the Food Security Bill so that the poorest of the poor gets food on cheap rates… But due to the lethargy of NC, the bill was not implemented in Jammu and Kashmir thereby denying right to the people here,” she said.
Asserting that once the Congress is again voted to power in the state, they will implement the Food Security Bill to ensure subsidized food to the poor, she said.
The Congress chief said that “our government at the Centre formed several programmes and schemes for development of Jammu and Kashmir during the past six years which will be explained in our forthcoming manifesto”.
Maintaining that Congress has strong bonding with the state, she said “Congress party has always been with Jammu and Kashmir in moment of happiness and grief or difficult times.
We will continue to be with you in future as well”. “Our relationship with J&K is very old one. From Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi and to Rajiv Gandhi and later Dr Manmohan Singh worked hard with heart and soul for the development of Jammu and Kashmir,” she said, adding it was Jawahar Tunnel which connected two sides of the Pir Panjal Range and provided all season road connectivity to the people.
It was the UPA government which in 2011 commenced work on four more tunnels to further provide better surface transport connectivity and one of the tunnels is 11-km long, which is the longest in the country, she said.
Showcasing former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s tenure as “period of development in the state”, Gandhi said it was due to efforts of Azad that hundreds of villages and areas were connected through road connectivity and power, besides hospitals and educational institutions were set up.
The biggest thing Congress has done during its rule is an equilateral and equitable development of all the three regions of Kashmir, Ladakh and Jammu and did not discriminate against any region.
Seeking vote for the party to form a majority government in the state, she said “Congress has to do a lot of work in the state which was left behind. You have to vote for Congress to ensure continuance of development and keep away the divisive forces”. Meanwhile at Bandipora, accusing BJP of playing politics over providing relief to flood victims, Sonia Gandhi said the ruling party at the Centre promised the sky but did not follow it up with action.
Gandhi, who was in Bandipora to campaign for Congress candidate Usman Majid for the forthcoming Assembly elections, said the polls are taking place at a time when people of Kashmir are yet to come to terms with the devastation caused by floods.
Gandhi said the UPA government went all out to provide succor to the victims of the 2005 earthquake that affected vast areas along the Line of Control, particularly Uri sector of Baramulla district.
“What has happened now when there is a BJP government (at the Centre)? It seems they are not interested. BJP leaders came and promised the sky but did not give anything. Even what the state (government) asked was not given,” she said. The state government has submitted a comprehensive package of Rs 44,000 crore for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood affected people and infrastructure in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 745 crore assistance to the state when he visited the state on Diwali on October 23.
Gandhi lauded the role played by the volunteers in providing succor to the flood-hit saying, “they did whatever was possible”.
Highlighting the steps taken by UPA government at the Centre for Jammu and Kashmir, Gandhi said Wullar beautification project was sanctioned in 2011 and a new air strip and two regional councils were promised.
“Congress has done lot of work for the people of the state. The views of Congress for development of Jammu and Kashmir are very clear. Don’t show dreams which are not possible on the ground,” she said.
Asking the people to vote for Congress for safeguarding secular values, Gandhi said Congress believes in secularism and to keep away communal powers, “we decided to have a coalition government”. .
Earlier, addressing the gathering, JKPCC chief Saifuddin Soz said, a vote for BJP in the Assembly elections will mean a vote for the RSS.
Without naming the Prime Minister, he said, “This man is running foreign policy as well as internal policy without consulting anyone, furthering the RSS agenda”. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged that all political parties, except Congress, had entered into secret pact with the BJP to be part of the new government.
Without naming any political party, Azad said, “We will have to defeat them.”
Once a hot-bed of militancy, this constituency today wore a festive look as flags of all major political parties fluttered across the district.
Bandipora and 14 other constituencies go to polls in the first phase of elections in the state on November 25. (PTI)
