Denying any friction between the Omar Abdullah government and the Raj Bhavan, the ruling National Conference said on Saturday that “those who are talking about a rift between the government and the lieutenant governor are trying to create trouble”. In addition, the party also believes that there should not be a ‘dual power system’.
NC spokesperson Tanveer Sadiq said on Saturday that it is important to note that since Jammu and Kashmir has become a Union Territory, it now has an elected government. “There are no major problems so far, and I hope there won’t be any in the future… There is no tug between the two, and if there are some concerns internally, they are resolved,” he said. Addressing the perceived friction with the LG on administrative issues like transfer of IAS officers and appointment of Advocate General of UT.
After the elected government took power, “there are some positives,” Sadiq said, adding that the restoration of the state would help solve the problem of dual power centers.
‘This work belongs to the elected government, not to the nominated person,’ he said.
According to sources, after the first session of parliament in November, the new government sought clarity on the trade regulations and the rift talks began.
“After the conference, there was a lot of discussion among the ministers, secretaries and other staff about who has the right. So because of the lack of clarity there, that conversation has now (seemed) grown into a rift,” said a source.
Section 55 (Conduct of Business) of the J&K Reorganization Act 2019 states that “the Lieutenant Governor shall, on the advice of the Cabinet, make rules” for the following purposes. It includes defined rules for the allocation of work to ministers and “procedures to be adopted in case of differences of opinion between the Lieutenant Governor and the Cabinet or the Ministers, for the more convenient transaction of business with the Ministers.”
Jammu and Kashmir elected its first government in five years this October after Abdullah took over as chief minister. The state’s last elected government was in 2018, when the regime collapsed under Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti as the BJP withdrew support.
In August 2019, J&K was bifurcated into two Union Territories and until this year functioned under Lieutenant Governor’s rule.
During his media interaction, the NC spokesperson repeated a word of caution to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s bureaucrats saying that “sooner than later, statehood (J&K) will be restored and they should heed the word of the elected government”.