J&K Assembly Budget Session: CM to chair joint legislature meeting today for ‘united front’ against opp

Srinagar, Mar 01: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will chair a joint legislature party meeting of National Conference and Congress in Jammu on Sunday to put up a “united face” before the opposition in the crucial budget session starting from March 3, Monday, in Jammu. The move assumes significance amid speculations that all wasn’t well between the alliance partners.
Speaking to Rising Kashmir, J&K Pradesh Congress Committee President Tariq Hameed Karra said there will be first separate meetings of NC and Congress legislature parties. “Our LP meeting is at 2 pm and the joint legislature party meeting is fixed at 3 pm in Jammu,” he said.
The JKPCC Chief said apart from the legislators of NC and Congress, independent candidates who are in support of the coalition government will also participate in the meeting. “One legislator each from the Aam Admi Party (AAP) and CPI(M) will also attend the meeting,” he added.
Congress legislature party leader Ghulam Ahmed Mir also confirmed that there will be a joint legislature party meeting in Jammu on Sunday. CPI(M) leader and MLA Kulgam M Y Tarigami said he will attend the meeting which will be chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. “Who else can chair the meeting other than CM Omar,” he said.
A senior NC leader said the joint legislature party meeting will focus on framing the strategy as to how the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), People’s Conference (PC) and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) can be countered in the House. “A collective approach would be finalised and guidelines framed. The same will be followed in the proceedings of the House,” he said. “Opposition has every right to make the government answerable but if they disrupt the proceedings, we will be able to counter them.”
Sources said that NC-Congress and independents who are part of the government will “put up a united face” against the 29-member BJP.
The first budget session of the elected government since 2018 will commence on March 3. The session is likely to be a high-voltage affair, following the turbulence of the last session in Srinagar, where the BJP staged protests against the NC move to introduce a resolution on the restoration of the special status of J&K.
CM Abdullah will present his first budget for J&K UT on March 7. The session will last till April 11.
Interestingly, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Abdul Rahim Rather on Friday convened an all-party meeting in Jammu where he assured the legislators that all would be accommodated in the House. However, the BJP urged the Speaker not to entertain the anti-national resolutions in the House so that decorum remains maintained.