J&K policy directionless: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge

Our Correspondent

Jammu, March 7

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday accused the BJP of only experimenting with the lives of the people of J&K in the past 10 years and claimed the Central government's policy for the Union Territory had been “directionless, rudderless and fruitless”.

In a post on X, Kharge mentioned, “Why are 65% of posts in J&K's government departments vacant since 2019? Why have 97% of investments not realised on ground since the introduction of the New Industrial Policy in 2021?”

He said people wanted to ask why investments worth Rs 82,026 crore out of the claimed Rs 84,544 crore had not been implemented and why was 40% of projects under the 2015 PM's Development Package still pending.

“Despite the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, why has the number of terror incidents in J&K increased from 140 during UPA-2 to 579 in NDA-2, which resulted in the sacrifice of 290 security personnel and 168 civilians? Thirty targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits took place in 2022 alone. Why?” Kharge posed on X.

He also sought to know when would full statehood be restored in J&K. The Congress president pointed out that the Supreme Court had directed the Election Commission to conduct elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly by September 30, 2024.

Meanwhile, the J&K unit of the party said it was disappointing that the PM made no mention about the restoration of J&K’s statehood and Assembly elections. Party’s UT vice-president and media in-charge Ravinder Sharma said that by not announcing the restoration of statehood and avoiding mention of Assembly elections, the PM had disappointed the people of J&K. Sharma said that the PM’s rally in Srinagar was attended by a large number of government employees. “It was an old rhetoric and pre-election rally targeting opposition, especially those with whom the BJP enjoyed power in the past. At that time, all these serious allegations of mismanagement were either ignored for power or not known to Modi,” said Sharma.

Sharma said lakhs of unemployed youth, daily wagers, contractual and other temporary employees as well regular employees were expecting something for them in the pre-election tour of the PM but returned disappointed.

(With PTI inputs)

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