Mufti, Mehbooba tear into NC, Cong in Jammu

Tribune News Service

Arnia/Jammu, December 15

Realising that the Congress is a force to reckon with in the Jammu region, former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed launched a blistering attack on the party on Monday. He charged the party with sharing loot with the NC, its coalition partner.

The electoral battlefield had been shifted from the Kashmir valley to the Jammu region with the completion of the fourth phase of the elections. The PDP patron and party president Mehbooba Mufti launched a tour in the region to mobilise party support.

Both Mufti and Mehbooba tried to give the impression that the setting up of a PDP government in J&Kwas imminent, but they wanted the due share of Jammu in government formation.

“The formation of a PDP government is inevitable, but it is my desire that every region and sub-region gets its due share in government composition,” Mufti said. He was addressing a public meeting in the border town of Arnia, which suffered heavy shelling a couple of months back.

Five members of a family had lost their lives in shelling from across the border in this village. Mufti seized this opportunity to seek the support of the people to take the agenda of peace to its logical conclusion.

“It was during the regime of the PDP-led government that there was complete peace on the border from Kathua to Kargil,” he said. He added that it was his desire to make J&K an island of peace.

The father-daughter duo minced no words in attacking the Congress and the NC for legitimising corruption, but they were no so offensive on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They tried to give a message that the BJP was not going to form the government in J&K.

“The BJP is claiming that it will achieve the target of over 44 seats, but the PDP had achieved this target in the first four phases,” Mehbooba said. She was addressing a public meeting in the Digiana area of Gandhi Nagar in support of party candidate Amreek Singh Reen.

Addressing a rally in Arnia, hometown of NC candidate Kamal Arora, Mufti made it a point to highlight the decision of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to abandon Ganderbal, his family’s traditional seat. “Omar conceded defeat much before the elections,”he claimed.