The National Conference on Wednesday accused Governor Satya Pal Malik of playing a partisan role in the state and implementing the agenda of RSS-BJP combine “in letter and spirit” by sidelining the significance of institutions and governing ethics.
Expressing concern over his current utterances, party’s chief spokesperson and MLA Budgam Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi said that tenure of incumbent governor of Jammu and Kashmir is evocative of Sadiq Era during which the candidates were selected rather than being elected, a party statement issued here today said.
“The incumbent Governor is belittling the status of his office by my way or the highway type of arrogant politics. In his recent rendezvous on a private TV channel, he had unambiguously hinted towards a particular person for the post of mayor of Srinagar” Mehdi said.
He said that the whole process of elections is a smokescreen and it seems that the selection has already been done by the Governor’s office.
“The Governor should come clean on the issue and make public as to why were the gimmick of elections played, people fooled and democratic institutions demeaned,” he said
The chief spokesperson said the elections are already mired with controversies and it was for the first time that the election commission hasn’t made the names of contestants public.
“The people are unaware of the candidates contesting in their wards and shockingly they have no idea where the polling centers are,” he added.
Expressing concern over the alleged clandestine approach used by the Governor administration, he said “What was the need of changing vote timings in the second phase of ULB polls? It is evident that the administration is confused and may have played some mischief.”
Criticizing the fiddling of the governor administration with local institutions he said, “The way amendments are being done and local institutions fiddled with is a point of concern for all of us. The other day Waqaf board rules were amended by the governor administration which should have been left for the popular government to decide upon. It shows the antipathy of the Governor for ethics.”
He asked the Governor to see the writing on the wall and start a conciliatory process in the state rather than putting out politically loaded statements.