Former J&K CM rejects charges against her government saying they are false. Never wavered from ‘Agenda of Alliance’, she says.
New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti hit back at former ally BJP Sunday, a day after its president Amit Shah accused the alliance government led by her of corruption and discriminating against Jammu and Ladakh in governance.
“Many false charges levelled against us by our former allies. Our commitment to the Agenda of Alliance, co-authored by Ram Madhav & endorsed by senior leaders like Rajnath Ji never wavered. It is sad to see them disown their own initiative & label it a ‘soft approach’,” Mufti said in a series of tweets.
The BJP had pulled the plug on the parties’ three-year alliance last week after a series of flashpoints, leaving Jammu & Kashmir under Governor’s Rule.
BJP leaders had accused the Mufti-led PDP of having a soft approach towards terrorists even as violence escalated in the insurgency-torn state, marked most recently by the murder of editor Shujaat Bukhari.
Shah’s attack on the PDP came at a rally in Jammu Saturday.
Among the major disputes between the allies was the investigation into the alleged gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua district’s Rasana village.
Questioning what they alleged was the “biased” probe of the J&K police, several members of the BJP’s state unit had demanded a CBI investigation. But Mufti had rejected the demand and assured a fair probe by the state police.
Two BJP ministers were subsequently removed from the state cabinet after they led protests against the investigation that had lent the case strong communal overtones as it involved a Muslim victim and Hindu suspects.
There is a vast demographic disparity between Jammu and Kashmir – while the Hindu-dominated Jammu region is seen as a BJP bastion, Mufti’s party had emerged as the biggest player in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley in the 2014 election.
In her tweets, Mehbooba said not handing over the Rasana rape and murder case to the CBI and getting the ministers removed was her duty as chief minister.
Underlining the promises made under the ‘Agenda of Alliance’, she said the Ramzan ceasefire, also a subject of dispute between the PDP and the state BJP unit, was among initiatives recognised and endorsed by Shah’s party.
“Status quo on Article 370, dialogue with Pakistan & Hurriyat were a part of AoA. Encouraging dialogue, withdrawing cases against stonepelters & the unilateral ceasefire were much needed measures to restore confidence on the ground. This was recognised and endorsed by BJP,” she tweeted.
She added that allegations of discrimination against Jammu & Ladakh had no basis in reality. “Yes, the Valley has been in turmoil for a long time & the floods of 2014 were a setback, therefore needed focused attention. But that does not mean that there was any less development elsewhere,” she said.
“Results on the ground for all to see. If anything they should review the performance of their own ministers, who largely represented the Jammu region if there were any such concerns, none among them either at state or central level talked about it during the last 3 years,” she added.