Mehbooba sacks FM Drabu over remark on Kashmir
JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday sacked finance minister Dr Haseeb Drabu from the council of ministers following his remarks that Kashmir was not a political issue.
“The chief minister, who returned from the national capital to Jammu, shot off a letter to governor NN Vohra requesting him to drop Drabu from her council of ministers with immediate effect,” said a senior party leader, pleading anonymity.
The governor, after examining the letter, wrote back to the chief minister conveying his nod to her request to drop the 57-year-old Drabu from her council of ministers, officials said. Drabu had made the “controversial” remark at a PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry event in New Delhi on March 9. “It (J&K) is not a political issue as far as I can see. They have been barking up the wrong tree for the last 50 or 70 years by talking about the politics of it…that the political situation has never improved. We seriously need to look at in terms of how it is a society that is in search for itself,” Drabu was quoted as saying in some media reports.
The PDP has asked Drabu to take back his remarks and party’s chief spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir had also warned of action against him if he failed to do so. The BJP termed the decision to sack Drabu from her cabinet a “setback” to the alliance and said it would widen the gap between the two allies. A top BJP leader praised Drabu’s role in coordination between the two parties and said he was often the bridge between the J&K government and the Centre. Former CM Omar Abdullah said Drabu’s speech has cost him “dearly”.