National Conference leader slams protest, calls it ‘drama’

A day after Srinagar MP and National Conference (NC) leader Ruhullah Mehdi led a protest in Srinagar, senior NC leader and MLA from Hazratbal, Salman Sagar, criticised the protest, stating it was not representative of his party.

“It was not an NC protest. Such protests are not from the party. It could be in his (Mehdi’s) individual capacity as an MP,” Sagar told reporters on Tuesday.

Sagar said, “There were different and good ways to handle such a situation. But what happened yesterday, I think it was a drama.”

He reiterated that he too wanted justice for open merit students but made it clear that the issue should not be politicised. .

In response to Sagar’s comments, open merit students expressed deep disappointment. In a press release, they condemned his remarks, calling the protest a “drama” and a “mehfil of enemies.”

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and MLA Ghulam Ahmad Mir on Tuesday said that the Srinagar MP Mehdi, could have met the Chief Minister Omar directly instead of resorting to “camera show.”“It has become a fashion now to get the camera attraction, otherwise the responsible MP from NC, could have behaved seriously,” he said on Tuesday.