A day after the announcement of Assembly polls in Jammu & Kashmir, skeletons have started tumbling out of the closet of Omar Abdullah-led alliance Government.
On Sunday, senior Congress Minister Sham lal Sharma, incharge PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Department leveled serious allegations of blackmail against National Conference Ministers who wanted to push back door entry of casual and need based workers of their choice before discussing the framework of the much delayed Regulari-sation policy for casual labourers in the State.
Agitated over the issue of ‘breach of trust’ by senior National Conference Ministers including Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, Sham lal had earlier submitted his resignation to the Pradesh Congress Committee chief Prof Saif-Ud-Din Soz on October 24.
In the absence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the State, the fate of Congress Minister continues to hang in balance. Even Soz could not forward the resignation of the Congress Minister to the Chief Minister for acceptance.
The issue of regularisation of over 61,000 casual labourers in the State is pending for past several years. A Cabinet sub committee was constituted by the Omar Abdullah Government in February 2009 but it achieved no headway in the matter.
Meanwhile, under pressure from different quarters to make public the real reason behind his resignation ahead of announcement of poll schedule in the State, Sham lal Sharma Sunday told reporters that Finance Minister AR Rather, convener of the cabinet sub committee reconstituted on September 4, 2014 was deliberately delaying the whole process while another National Conference Minister Mohd Akbar lone approached him with a list of casual workers to be accommodated first in lieu of their final nod to the Regularisation policy.
Sham lal said that the National Conference Ministers misled him by first claiming that after discussing the framework of the Regularisation policy the note would be forwarded to the General Administration department for putting up before the Cabinet. Sham said before the meeting that when he enquired about the note from the Sectary, GAD he feigned ignorance about the same.
Sham further claimed, “I realised NC Ministers were deliberately delaying it as they were not keen on framing the policy”.
“When I agitated over the matter in the presence of other members of the Cabinet sub-committee, a senior NC Minister approached me with a list of 500 casual workers.”
Sham claimed National Conference Minister Mohd Akbar lone told his assertively to accommodate the list of casual workers of their choice in lieu of their consent.
No harm in Hindu CM: Cong MlA
Firebrand Congress legislator from Akhnoor Sham lal Sharma on Sunday once again kicked up a storm by claiming there is no harm in electing a Hindu Chief Minister in the coming Assembly polls in Jammu & Kashmir.
“The decision will be taken by the electorate and if numbers are on your side any one can become a Chief Minister. There is no bar on any one in the constitution from becoming a Chief Minister any where in India on the basis of religion,” Sham lal told reporters when quizzed over his earlier stand on electing a Hindu Chief Minister in J&K to address the issue of discrimination with Jammu division.
Sham had earlier triggered a controversy on the occasion of birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi on August 20,2014 by claiming why can't a Hindu lead J&K and become Chief Minister of the State.
“I stand by my earlier statement over the issue of electing a Hindu Chief Minister in J&K and i have no hesitation in repeating the same,” Sham lal Sharma told reporters in Jammu after addressing a Press conference at Jammu press club.
“No where the constitution bar any one on the basis of religion not to become Chief Minister any where in India. The States of Maharashtra and Rajasthan have set an example why not the same can be replicated here in Jammu & Kashmir, Sham asked questioning the wisdom of those raising objections over his statement. He said if we claim we are secular then we have to prove it by our deeds. Mere lip service is of no significance.
Though Sham lal has denied reports of quitting the congress in the coming days speculation is rife here in the corridors of power that Sham may not contest on Congress ticket and is exploring all options before him.