Anayat Council Chairman, Mir elected his Deputy

 Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 12

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislator from Kargil, Haji Anayat Ali, was today unanimously elected as the new Chairman of the Legislative Council. A senior Congress member in the House, Jehangir Hussain Mir, got the post of Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council.

The motion for the election of the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council was moved by Minister for Education Naeem Akhter, also the Leader of the House. The motion was seconded by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Ramesh Arora.

Anayat Ali, who is 46 years old, succeeded Amrit Malhotra of the Congress. Amrit Malhotra completed his term in the House on March 27. Jehangir Hussain Mir was appointed as the acting Chairman of the Legislative Council.

As per the agreement reached at between the two ruling coalition partners, the PDP and the BJP, the saffron party had been given the post of Speaker of the Legislative Assembly while the PDP got the post of the Legislative Council Chairman.

Anayat Ali belongs to the influential Islamia School Kargil. He had fought last year’s Assembly election on the PDP ticket from the Kargil Assembly seat, but lost to Congress candidate Asgar Karbali. Anayat Ali was elected to the Legislative Council earlier this year from the seat reserved for Kargil in the House.

The PDP decided to nominate Anayat Ali as the party had no representation in the Council of Ministers from the entire Ladakh region. There are 34 members in the Legislative Council with two seats lying vacant.

The PDP is the largest party with 11 members. The BJP and the National Conference have eight each and the Congress seven. Two posts from urban local bodies are vacant as elections to those have not been held even after a lapse of five years.

Congratulating Anayat Ali and Jahangir Hussain Mir, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said he was certain that they would emulate the legacy left behind by stalwarts like Syed Hussain and Amrit Malhotra.

“I am hopeful that they will conduct the business of the House efficiently and facilitate the Members in raising issues of urgent public importance,” he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh felicitatted the newly elected Chairman and Deputy Chairman. He said the coalition government created history by electing the Deputy Chairman of the Upper House from the Opposition, which was never witnessed earlier.

He said the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly had been elected from the Opposition as well. “We decided to give the position of the main opposition party to the National Conference in the Lower House and the Congress in the Upper House. The coalition of the BJP and the PDP is not for ruling the state, but for working for the larger goal of bringing the state out of the morass,” he said.