PDP unhappy with Centre’s flood relief package

Mufti’s party has asked him to make it clear to the BJP leadership that if the funds do not come for development, the coalition cannot continue.

daughter, party president Mehbooba Mufti.

Party insiders told this newspaper that all three MPs, including Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, have told Sayeed to make it clear to the BJP leadership that if the funds do not come for development, the coalition cannot continue.

“We have a firm opinion within the party that BJP has so far only stone-walled all the efforts of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed to develop J&K state and to rehabilitate the flood victims. This cannot continue for long. We will have to decide, taking into consideration the mandate given to us by the people of the Kashmir Valley”, a PDP MP told The Sunday Guardian.

Recently, Sayeed was upset when Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said that the state’s power projects cannot be taken back from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation as stated in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

The Opposition National Conference and other political parties as well as trade bodies in Kashmir have denounced the Central Government package for relief and reconstruction.

The NC has demanded that a special session of the Assembly be called to pass a unanimous resolution seeking a proper rehabilitation package from the Centre.

The PDP is also annoyed with recent statements by state BJP leaders.

Sayeed has conveyed his “displeasure” to Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh at the latter’s statement to the press that Syed Ali Shah Geelani would not be allowed to hold a seminar in Srinagar.

“Such childish statements will not be tolerated in future and BJP ministers should go by the CMP of governance and should not cross the limits of coalition dharma,” said senior minister Altaf Bukhari of the PDP.

Sayeed has come under sharp criticism from Leader of Opposition Omar Abdullah, who recently said that the CM should tell people where there is space for the “battle of ideas” as he has caged all voices of dissent. He also said that Sayeed has disgraced the people of Kashmir by accepting financial package in “drips and drabs”.