A day after leading a student demonstration outside Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s residence, National Conference MP Agha Ruhullah Mehdi has drawn criticism from both his party colleagues and ally Congress.
While Congress youth president Salman Sagar criticized Mehdi saying “no one is bigger than the party”, Congress Legislature Party leader GA Mir said the Congress MP’s presence at the protest should not have been “for the cameras”.
Apart from Mehdi, opposition PDP’s Wahid ur Rehman Para and Iltija Mufti also joined Monday’s protest as students from the general category demanded the Abdullah government to reduce reservation in UT jobs and education from the current 60% to 25%. Demanded to reduce.
Sagar stressed that the issue of reservation was important and said Mehdi “shouldn’t have” taken the students to the doorstep of the party president and vice president. There are many ways to “not only get your point across to the party, but to persuade them,” he said.
“He (Mehdi) is a senior leader and the sitting MP for Srinagar, but he is part of a political party and he cannot be bigger than that,” Sagar said.
Sagar also criticized Mehdi for “sitting with the opposition”. “These people are always looking for opportunities to oppose us and make our good work look bad. What is their credibility? People have rejected them,” Sagar said.
Congress leader Mir said Mehdi should have discussed the issue within his party.
Mir said, “If he feels the need to represent the problems of the youth with the Chief Minister, instead of going out on the streets, he should discuss them within the party and the government,” said Mir. Press conference at Congress office
Mir said Jammu and Kashmir have different figures in population composition, “which becomes an issue when deciding on proportional reservation”. “The best way to address this, as Rahul Gandhiji has already suggested, is to have a caste census in the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, after some protesting students met the CM on Monday and said he had sought six months to review the reservation policy in UT, PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti said the time frame was “too long”. There could be a lot of recruitment in the next months and that could “push open qualified candidates to the wall”, she said.
The PDF chief said the NC, despite having three MPs (including Ladakh) and at least 50 MLAs, was seeking six months to decide on a critical issue “because they believe the court will decide within that time, absolving them of responsibility.”
The reservation issue has also been challenged in the High Courts of J&K and Ladakh.ss
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