Srinagar, Jun 24: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday rejected the accusations of the BJP’s national president Amit Shah stating that Shah had been ‘quite careless’ while presenting the actual facts to the people during his speech.
In a press release issued here quoted PDP’s senior leader Abdul Rehman Veeri stating that the coalition government in the state came into existence in March 2015- soon after the catastrophic floods had wrecked havoc in Valley, damaging public and private infrastructure at a very large scale. Veeri said Valley deserved special attention during the government’s first year as the bridges, roads hospitals, schools and other vital infrastructures were badly damaged in the ravaging 2014 floods. “But is not based on facts that Jammu and Ladakh faced the neglect of any sort. Equitable development of all the three regions remained a top priority of the government and Jammu and Ladakh were equally benefitted by the governance of the previous coalition. Irony is that the BJP’s national president has decided to run down the MLAs and ministers of his own party by arguing about the less development in Jammu. He perhaps has forgotten that BJP was the equal partner in the coalition and the BJP ministers were holding key portfolios in the government,” Veeri said.
Veeri further alleged that the statement by Amit Shah in Jammu was made for political benefits but the fact remains that such rhetoric wouldn’t help the sensitive state like Jammu and Kashmir in any way. He added that PDP worked at the forefront to present Jammu and Kashmir as a composite state and not to let anyone fragment it on any ground. “The best barometer to find the development in Jammu and Ladakh regions of the state is to seek response from the people of these regions and explore the ways to keep the state united and harmonious,” Veeri said, adding that the government across the state subsidized Ration for more a crore people and the state emerged as number one across Indian interms of rural development, revival of the PMGSY and CRF.
Veeri maintained further that if there is any snail’s pace development witnessed anywhere in the state, it is in the projects being funded by the central government which continuously keep missing the deadlines. “The expansion of the national highway was executed two decades earlier and its completion is still not near. Building of railways commenced in the state in the year 1983 from Udhampur to Srinagar. Shah should have atleast studied the figures and then come up with the baseless jibes,” Veeri said.
He added that it is unnatural to blame a single party and that Amit Shah cannot get away with the fact that BJP was equal partner in running the state coalition after the 2014 polls and if there is any development deficit, it is with the departments which were held by the BJP ministers in the coalition. “The undeniable fact is that the smart city proposals, power reforms, establishment of medical colleges are in limbo and interestingly all the ministers were with the BJP during the three year tenure of the coalition in the state. On the contrary, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a massive development in the sectors of education, rural development, construction of highways, roads and bridges, construction of hostels, colleges, establishment of two cluster universities in Jammu and in Srinagar, scarping of the stamp duties for women of Jammu and Kashmir and revival of the sports in all the three regions of the state,” Veeri said.
