SRINAGAR: The upcoming assembly session in Jammu and Kashmir will be the first test of nerves for the chief minister Mehbooba Mufti as the opposition National Conference and Congress gear up to corner the PDP-BJP government over a series of controversies that have hit the state over the last two months.
Since the dawn of April when the coalition government was sworn into office, the political developments and security-related issues in the state have kept the pot boiling, especially in Kashmir valley where the coalition government, facing accusations of implementing the agenda of the RSS, the ideological mentor of the BJP, is viewed with deep suspicion.
From the killings of five civilians in the second week of April in Kupwara district over rumours of molestation of a minor girl student to the proposal of setting up "Sainik Colony" for ex-servicemen in Kashmir Valley and building "Composite Townships" for migrant Kashmiri Pandits, the opposition has got enough ammunition to fire guns at the coalition government in the assembly session.
"This government has backtracked on almost every promise it made to people. Under the garb of so called development, the PDP and BJP have a tacit understanding on eroding the special status of the state and implementing the RSS's agenda. National Conference will not watch over these developments silently," Ali Mohammad Sagar, general secretary of National Conference, told The Citizen.
The 38-day budget session will begin from May 25 with the state government proposing to table the budget on May 30. During his rule, Governor NN Vohra has passed vote-on-account to prevent the state from sliding into crisis at the end of the financial year.
The problems for the coalition government have been compounded with the recent announcement by the home ministry in the parliament that there are no plans to revoke AFSPA from the state as well as the apex court's directions on NEET. The order on common medical entrance test was unsuccessfully contested by the state government in the SC on the grounds of Article 370, which grants special status to the status under the Indian Constitution.
"We will seek answers from this government. On one hand, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti promises to protect the special status but the recent development on the issue of NEET shows that she has grabbed power to erode J&K's special status," Congress chief' GA Mir, said.