STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Provincial President National Conference Devender Singh Rana on Thursday castigated BJP for ditching the people of Jammu by negating their mandate and said they have no right to be in the government if they are not heard or cannot deliver.
“BJP is in a state of trauma, as its ministers have no idea as to what all was going on in the State”, Rana said at a press conference at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here, held to welcome PDP MLC Mrs Depender Kour and her supporters in the National Conference.
Replying to a question on the establishment of AIIMS in Jammu, the Provincial President said. “While we welcome the sanctioning of AIIMS for Kashmir, we demand similar institutes for Jammu and Ladakh, keeping in view the topography, population, influx of tourists-cum-pilgrims and the floating population during winter months”, he said, adding quickly that the party also favours IIM and IIT for the Kashmir Valley.
On being asked about the reported negotiations between some BJP ministers and the stakeholders in Jammu, the Provincial President quipped, “Negotiations for what”. He said, “If, as the BJP says, that the Centre has agreed to have an AIIMS at Jammu, they should immediately issue a notification in this regard and that is about all. This requires no discussions, no negotiations”. He said these are delaying tactics of the government in a bid to create confusion and to defuse the situation at the moment in a clandestine bid scuttle the agitation. He added that there was no cohesion between words and the actions of the BJP leaders and ministers.
He reiterated that the Jammu and Kashmir should not be treated as any other state, given the magnitude of turbulence the people suffered during the past two and half decades. The state has peculiar problems and these need be tackled by special dispensation, he said and advised the Chief Minister to lead an all party delegation to the Prime Minister for sanctioning of AIIMS for Jammu. He recalled how former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had led the delegation and got an additional Central University approved for Jammu. “There is no harm or should be no ego in emulating a healthy precedence, even if it is set by a leader who is in opposition now”, he opined and emphasized the need for immediate initiative to avert the situation getting out of control. He said the stakeholders were agitating and sitting on hunger strike during the scorching summer heat, which is a telling tale on the functioning of the government.
Rana said the insensitive and the irresponsible dispensation has pushed the State to a crisis like situation in just 108 days of its misgovernance with people wondering as to what was left for them in store. The coalition combination has proved the government to be “off-the-people” rather than “of-the-people. He said if the situation is allowed drift away, the people and the opposition will be left with no alternative other than urging the Governor N N Vohra to dismiss the inept and irresponsible government, which has failed on all fronts.
To repeated questions on the role of BJP with regard to establishment of AIIMS in Jammu, the Provincial President said different political entities in the Union and the State Government were talking differently thus creating confusion in the public mind. He said while the Ministers in the Union Government are on record having committed AIIMS for Jammu, the other state leaders and ministers were talking in different tunes.
Welcoming Kour into the party fold, Rana described the joining as home coming and said this will further strengthen the party at grass roots level. He said Kour has a long standing in politics and her guidance to younger generation of workers will stimulate the party at all the levels.
Reposing her immense faith in the policies and programmes of National Conference, Deepender Kour said she is rejoining the party when it is in opposition only because the PDP has shelved the interests of the Jammu region.
On the occasion son of Kour and senior functionary of Youth Wing of the PDP Sandeep Singh along with a large number of supporters joined the National Conference. Prominent among them were Satvinder Singh, Manuj Sharma, Kapil Sushil, Manjot Singh, Tejinderpal Singh, Jagpreet Singh, Karan Wazir and Yogesh. They were profusely greeted and garlanded by the senior party functionaries.
