Congress backs Mufti to foil BJP-NC merger

Soz says power hungry leaders trying to subvert people’s verdict

PS BALI

Jammu, Dec 25: The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) today apparently advocated People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron and chief ministerial candidate, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to lead next government in the state to ‘foil much talked BJP-NC merger’.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, JKPCC chief, Prof Saif-Ud-Din Soz said that sidelining Mufti Mohammad Sayeed from the formation of state government would be equivalent to subverting democratic verdict of the people.

“It is a worrying situation in which certain power-hungry political groups and individuals are trying to subvert the democratic verdict of the people in the just-concluded election to the state legislative Assembly,” JKPCC president Saifuddin Soz said and added “A suave, experienced and forward-looking politician like Sayeed should be allowed to lead a coalition government in the state with the support of other like-minded parties or groups. That way alone the people’s verdict would truly be respected.”

 “The people of the state, especially in Kashmir has given mandate to the PDP patron, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to counter divisive politics of the BJP. Now, keeping him (Mufti) out of government would amount to undermining people’s verdict,” Soz said.

 Soz said that Jammu and Kashmir has experienced blackest periods of its recent history through armed militancy and devastating floods that left thousands of people homeless and needy.

"It is a time when a government should be at the helm to reconstruct the economy, rehabilitate a suffering mass of people and ensure governance that brings relief in the hearts and minds of the people," he said.

The Congress chief further said the RSS-BJP leadership would be well-advised to resist the temptation of cobbling a coalition that "only deepens the polarization on religious and regional considerations, which is, to say the least, detrimental to the integrity of the state." 

"The RSS-BJP leadership should also appreciate the sensitivity of this border State and not indulge in any kind of horse-trading, giving priority to the parochial interests.

That kind of short-sighted political arrangement would certainly attract a social commotion and spoil the gains from a credible, free and fair Election concluded recently," Soz told Greater Kashmir.