The Opposition National Conference (NC) on Thursday termed the ruling PDP-BJP’s move to seek the postponement of by-elections for the Anantnag Assembly segment as a loud and clear admission of failure by Chief Minister Mehbooba Muft. “Ms Mufti is evidently terrified of facing the people,” former Chief Minister and NC’s working president Omar Abdullah said in a statement here.
The Election Commission had announced byelection for the Anantnag constituency on May 16. However, citing security situation in the south Kashmir area, the State Government has sought postponement of the byelection.
The byelection has been necessitated due to the demise of former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, who had won the Anantnag Assembly election in 2014 elections.
“In seeking the postponement of the election for Anantnag, Mehbooba Mufti has shown that she has panicked and is hiding behind the Election Commission. This desperate and evasive move shows how badly the Chief Minister is governing the State and is a formal admission of defeat by the PDP-BJP alliance. Fearing rejection by the people, the Chief Minister has evaded the very first formal referendum on the PDP-BJP alliance and that’s a very significant development”, Omar Abdullah said in a statement.
He said that Ms Mufti was trying to escape the consequences of PDP’s sell-outs and political surrenders under the fig-leaf of an allegedly ‘non-conducive’ situation. “When the Chief Minister of a state is petrified of failing to seek an electoral validation to continue in her chair, the very credibility, mandate and writ of the Government becomes questionable. Knowing well that her party is facing a complete rout at the grassroots level, Mehbooba Mufti has chosen to run away from her very first test and that’s tragic”, Abdullah said.
“The people of J&K have rejected this alliance of convenience and have also seen how much of a failure it amounted to in its previous year in power. Mehbooba Mufti’s spectacular U-turn on seeking Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) from the Government of India has catalyzed PDP’s political obliteration. If she is so scared of facing the people, with what credibility and confidence will she rule the StateIJ” Omar asked.