Srinagar, Nov 27: Accusing among others Governor Satya Pal Malik also of “misrepresenting and distorting facts”, Peoples Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone on Tuesday made public detailed sequence of events that climaxed with the dissolution of Legislative Assembly on November 21.
“I have been watching for the last three to four days that there has been a misrepresentation of facts and gross distortion of certain events that unfolded in J&K by some people, and unfortunately, especially His Excellency the Governor of J&K,” Sajad Lone said in a brief statement today.
“I want to put the record straight,” Lone said and went on to add that on that particular day “when we all staked a claim, I was the first one to talk to him (Governor Malik) on the phone and tell him that I want to stake a claim for government formation.”
“The Governor asked me to send a fax,” he said and recounted that “thereafter for three hours we tried, though unsuccessfully, to send a fax to the Raj Bhavan. The fax would not go through.
“I called the Governor’s secretary who had earlier put me on to the Governor. He would not take the call,” Lone recalled.
He said “for three hours we tried and could not get through to any of the numbers of the Raj Bhavan.”
During this period, he said a stake to form government in the form of a letter popped up on social media from Mehbooba Mufti.
“I do not know whether she staked the claim on the basis of a potential claim that we were trying to make – and had informed the Hon’ble Governor about – or if she staked the claim on her own,” he said.
“There are some people who believe that on the receipt of information that we are going to stake a claim, Ms. Mehbooba Mufti immediately put up a claim on Twitter. This is the series of events,” he said.
“Whenever I said that I would stake a claim – it would be done under the ambit of a constitutional provision and would be totally legitimate. I don’t know since when they have made constitutional provisions and solutions illegal – that is for the Governor to clarify,” Lone said apparently in reference to Governor’s assertions about his claim.
“We had the numbers and would have emerged victorious in a constitutionally legitimate method. There should be no doubt about this,” Lone asserted.
He said “my forefathers have lived here, my father lived and sacrificed his life here. I am living here and will live in this society and so will my children. I cannot allow a misrepresentation of facts on a daily basis and this vilification and distortion campaign has to end. The facts needed to be put on record and it is for others to uphold the truth. The truth shall prevail.”
He said his party remains committed to “offering an alternative to the traditional political system of exploitation, arrogance, entitlement and blackmail and we shall leave no stone unturned to rid the state of the tyranny of dynastic misrule and despotism.”
