Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Nov 15
Questioning the locus of Mr. Ram Madhav, General Secretary BJP in issuing statements which were the exclusive prerogative of the President of India and State Governor, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh JKNPP Chairman and Former Minister observed that such announcements provided yet another example of subversion of constitution by the BJP. He said the continuance or revocation of Governor Rule was the prerogative of the constitutional authorities including the President of India and State Governor and it was not for the General Secretary of a political Party to take a decision with regard to the same. He was referring to the statement of Ram Madhav made to the media yesterday that ‘BJP had decided to continue the Governor Rule’ and that it would continue till the middle of next month. Furthermore, said Singh, the BJP General Secretary had no role to play in the conduct of Municipal and Panchayat elections or other policy matters of the state which fell within the domain of Governor and his team of Advisors. Cautioning the BJP General Secretary to remain within his limits, Mr. Singh said that constitution can’t be allowed to be held as hostage to the political whims of a particular party. Asserting further that Governor Rule had no place for political adventurism and incursions, Mr. Singh said that undue interference of BJP at this juncture, under the tutelage of Ram Madhav in the governance of state, was totally unwarranted and unconstitutional. He called upon the Governor to instruct the administration to act in the best interests of the state without bowing to the blackmail of BJP which had lost the mandate to interfere in the policy matters of the state. He further accused the BJP of making ambiguous statements and giving confusing signals so as to give the false impression about re-installation of the collapsed govt. Accusing the central govt of keeping the J&K Assembly in suspended animation in blatant defiance of constitutional provisions, norms, precedents and the set protocols, Mr. Singh appealed to the president of India to intervene so as to uphold the constitution and its mandate. He said that central govt was trying to rule the state through proxy and had deputed Mr. Ram Madhav for the purpose who was blatantly interfering in the affairs of the state. He said Mr. Ram Madhav not only poked his nose in the internal functioning of the state during BJP-PDP rule but had managed to penetrate into the present administrative set up and was frequently seen holding meetings with the Governor and other bureaucrats. A general impression therefore was being conveyed to the public that Ram Madhav was acting as de facto Chief Minister of state with MLAs also allowed to exercise their normal functions despite the Assembly having been suspended in the state.
Appealing the Governor to ensure immediate dissolution of the Assembly, Mr. Singh said that the mandate of constitution must prevail in view of no political party being in a position to form the govt in the state. Any delay is fraught with dangerous portends with increased attempts of horse trading given the machiavellian skills of the opportunist BJP, said Harsh.
