Dy CM Surinder Choudhary, Food Minister Satish Sharma, MLA Pyaray Lal counter opposition BJP in LA: ‘You will never get separate Jammu’

Amid ruckus, BJP MLAs refused to take seats, Speaker adjourns House till tomorrow

Srinagar: The Speaker Legislative Assembly Abdur Rahim Rather Thursday adjourned the House till tomorrow as the opposition refused to settle down. The BJP is demanding roll back of the special status resolution brought by the government yesterday that was passed as well.

Soon after the House met, the BJP leaders were up on their toes demanding scrapping the resolution passed on the special status in the House yesterday. They were, however, countered by the leaders from the Treasury benches, especially those from Jammu. Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary accused BJP of “double standards” and ruining J&K over the past ten years. “You sold Jammu land, you sold everything in Jammu, you are responsible for mess in Jammu,” Choudhary shouted.

Food Minister Satish Sharma also countered the BJP stating that let the House do its job. “You will be made accountable by the people of Samba, Kathua and Jammu. Don’t divide Kashmir and Jammu. You are the reason behind the wedge between Kashmir and Jammu. Do you want further division? By climbing the table where the Indian constitution was placed, you claim to be champions of Indian democracy. You should be punished for desecrating the copies of the Indian constitution. Jammu can’t be separated from Kashmir. We have to take together Kashmir, Jammu and even Ladakh.”

MLA Payare Lal also launched a scathing attack on the opposition saying, “By raising religious slogans, you can’t win loyalty here. Come and let’s tour Jammu together, I will tell you how happy people of Jammu are over passing of resolution on special status. Your dream of having separate Jammu will never realise. Remember it.”

The speaker made repeated requests to the opposition to take seats, but they refused and instead demanded the resolution passed yesterday in the House be expunged. The leader of the House Omar Abdullah watched the proceedings silently. As the opposition refused to take seats, the Speaker announced adjournment of the House till tomorrow—(KNO)