Oppn comes down heavily on ‘failed’ govt

Tribune News Service

Jammu/Srinagar, August 31

The ruling PDP-BJP dispensation, which would complete six months in office tomorrow, has received brickbats from the Opposition as it claimed that the government had “no achievements to highlight” in the first six months of power.

Rating the performance of the coalition government as “below average”, senior Congress leader and former minister Sham Lal Sharma observed: “Bartering wishes and aspirations of people of the Jammu region is the only noticeable achievement of the BJP in the last six months.”

“The BJP, which always claimed to be the only credible voice of the people of the Jammu region, has brazenly given up on its ideology to enjoy power,” alleged Sharma.

“The saffron party has given up on its core issue like the Article 370, citizenship rights for West Pakistan refugees, disparity with Jammu, Hindu chief minister and chief minister from Jammu,” he said.

“Where is the governance? People have been made to suffer unnecessarily as the government has been marred with controversies from the day it assumed the office,” the Congress leader said.

He termed the six-month period of the present regime as full of “contradiction, confusion and controversies”.

Ghulam Nabi Monga, vice-president, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC), said the PDP-BJP coalition government had “failed on all fronts”. “Despite making promises, there has been no development…it has been a complete disappointment. The government has failed to rehabilitate flood victims, causing resentment among people. They have also failed to control inflation,” Monga said.

The principal Opposition, National Conference, also castigated the ruling coalition for delay in rehabilitation package for flood victims. It even called Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who heads the state government, a “spineless Chief Minister”.

“It is a complete failure, there is no doubt about it,” said Junaid Mattu, National Conference spokesperson.

“The delay in rehabilitating victims of last year’s flood is the most glaring failure of the government. The law and order situation has crippled while the economy has taken a plunge. The writ of the government is in question,” Mattu said.

NC provincial president from Jammu Devender Singh Rana also questioned the working of the current government, saying it has been full of “chaos and confusion”.

“It has been six months of tall promises, populist rhetoric, absolute chaos and confusion and missing governance leading to public outrage and disappointment,” said Rana..

(With inputs from Dinesh Manhotra, Amir Karim Tantray, M Aamir Khan & Azhar Qadri)