Srinagar: Opposition National Conference (NC) on Wednesday asked its arch rival and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti to make public what she has demanded from the Centre as a pre-condition for forming the new government in Jammu and Kashmir with its alliance partner BJP.
“She must make public the alleged charter of demands public so that the people could actually compare these with the eventual concessions, or lack of concessions, that she is able to extract,” NC general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar told reporters here.
Lashing out at the PDP for being responsible for the present political stalemate in the State, he said Ms. Mufti’s “conspicuous silence during past ten months on issues like AFSPA revocation spoke louder than any antics that are being enacted now to salvage the last remnants of PDP’s image in the State”.
“Mehbooba should tell the people what she is demanding from the Central government since these demands are being made in their name and at a cost of their right to have an elected government,” he said adding that the BJP has officially stated that it has not received any demands from the PDP, “a declaration that has exposed PDP’s drama”. If at all there are any political demands, the people need to know so that they can then measure these demands in comparison to what Ms. Mufti succeeds in achieving, he said.
He also said that until and unless Ms. Mufti makes her ‘charter of demands’ public PDP’s current posturing amounted to “precious little and is nothing beyond a theatrical performance aimed at rebuilding a severely dented image”.
Commenting on the prevalent political stalemate in the State, the NC leader said there were only two options to uphold the principles of the Constitution – that either PDP and BJP form the government without any further delay or fresh elections be announced in the State. “There can be no middle path and status-quo in perpetuity with limitless extensions and new deadlines not only violates basic principles of the constitution but also comes at a grave risk of discrediting democratic institutions in the State”, he asserted.
He said the NC is prepared for fresh elections which, he said, seems like an inevitable possibility. “The rank and file of our party are organized, prepared and upbeat about the prospects of our party to be part of a democratic exercise that would give the people of the State a chance to take the State out of this darkness and morass of political instability and confusion”, Mr. Sagar said, reiterating it was up to PDP and BJP to offer the State an elected government and that there was no hurdle in their way from fulfilling this responsibility.
