AARYAN SHARMA
JAMMU: Hours after former cabinet minister Naeem Akhtar went public with his party’s stand on the issue of government formation, BJP leaders camping in Jammu started a whisper campaign in the corridors of power claiming if PDP is keen on reviewing the performance of the alliance government they should also focus on the working of the PDP ministers too.
BJP ministers also revealed during the 10 months long innings in office it was their PDP counterparts who largely dictated the agenda of the government and seldom allowed free hand to their BJP colleagues to set the agenda and deliver goods for the welfare of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
“They always created road blocks for us on one pretext or the other”, the BJP leaders demanding anonymity claimed.
A senior BJP minister also revealed before the Rs 80,000 crore package was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi PDP ministers always focused on relief and rehabilitation package for Kashmir valley.
Even after the package was announced, the PDP ministers tried to take credit of the announcement and made sure that they walked away with all the credit instead of acknowledging the fact that the BJP led Union government fulfilled its promise of wiping the tears of the flood affected population of the State. When it came to the issue of setting up of AIIMS in Jammu PDP ministers created ruckus and delayed the final decision leading to awkward position of the BJP in its strong bastion Jammu.
Meanwhile, the statement of PDP leader is also indicative of the fact that so far no formal interaction has taken place between the PDP and BJP leaders and both the parties were only doing public posturing not to be seen as power hungry. In the coming days it remains to be seen whether the BJP negotiators would once again bail out PDP leadership and fall prey to their pressure tactics or stood their ground to give equal share in power matrix to the elected representatives of Jammu region.
