NC, Cong legislature party to meet separately in Jammu on Sunday

Jammu, Feb 28 (PTI) The National Conference and the Congress have convened separate legislature party meetings here on Sunday, a day before the start of the first budget session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in seven years.

The 40-day budget session, having a total of 22 sittings, is scheduled to start on March 3 with the address of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

The budget session is likely to be stormy with the Peoples Conference reportedly having moved a resolution to the assembly secretariat, condemning the abrogation of Article 370 and demanding the restoration of pre-August 2019 constitutional position.

On February 27, Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather chaired an all-party meeting of the legislators and sought cooperation during the ensuing budget session to ensure productivity of the house.

This will be the first budget of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah led National Conference government after assuming power in October last year, ending six-year-old central rule.

The last budget session had taken place in 2018 during the PDP-BJP government in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir which was bifurcated into two Union Territories in August 2019 after abrogation of Article 370.

National Conference (NC) chief whip Mubarak Gul has convened a legislature party meeting at the official residence of chief minister and party’s vice president Omar Abdullah on March 2.

Abdullah will be presiding over the meeting, which is all set to discuss and chalk out the party’s strategy for ensuring a smooth session, a party leader said.

“Keeping in view the importance of the meeting, all the members are requested to kindly make it convenient to attend the meeting,” Gul said.

Separately, Congress chief whip Nizam-ud-Din Bhat has also asked the party legislators to ensure their presence at the meeting at the party headquarters in Jammu on March 2.

The National Conference and the Congress fought the assembly elections last year together but the latter having six MLAs has not joined the government, citing its decision to wait till the restoration of statehood to the Union Territory. However, the Congress has made it clear that it is part of the government.

The National Conference won 42 seats in the 90-member house and enjoys the support of the alliance partner CPI(M), which has won one seat, and six independent legislators.

Addressing the all party meeting attended by representatives of different parties, Rather said, “The budget session is a crucial time for policy deliberations and financial planning. I urge all of you and your members to engage in meaningful debates, uphold house decorum and work towards the collective good of our people as well as the entire Jammu and Kashmir.”

Earlier on February 23, the speaker had taken a serious note of publicity of the house business notices by the opposition parties ahead of the session and said “it is improper to give unwarranted publicity to the notices of questions, bills, resolutions and other similar matters connected with business of the house which is breach of privilege”.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, however, accused Rather of imposing a form of “martial law” while occupying a constitutional position.

In a related development, Mufti on Thursday wrote a letter to the chief minister, seeking his support to three private member bills to be tabled by her party legislators in the budget session.

The bills forwarded by the PDP MLAs are seeking regularization and recognition of property rights of residents on public land, special provisions for regularization of adhoc, daily wagers, need based and other temporary workers and prohibition of alcohol in the Union Territory.

Mehbooba also wrote identical letters addressed to the BJP, Congress, CPI(M) and Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Gani.

While it was not immediately clear whether the speaker had entertained the resolution reportedly moved by the Peoples Conference chairman to the assembly secretariat, the BJP had said it will not tolerate any “unconstitutional, undemocratic or anti-national agenda” during the session.

Abdullah is presenting the budget for the first time in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on March 7. He had held the charge of home and general administrative department among others during his previous stint as the chief minister in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2009 to 2014.

The previous five budgets were presented and passed by Parliament in the absence of the legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, while the then governor Satya Pal Malik led state administrative council passed the budget for 2019-2020 following the fall of the PDP-BJP government in June 2018.

This will be the second assembly session of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly since the formation of the National Conference led government in the Union Territory.

Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly met in Srinagar from November 4 to 8, within 20 days after the formation of the government, but witnessed continuous disruption by the BJP over passing of resolution by the National Conference seeking restoration of special status.