BJP slams 'visionless Budget', asks Omar Abdullah to vacate office of CM

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today strongly criticised the budget presented by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, terming it visionless, directionless and biased towards the National Conference.

Addressing a joint press conference Party Spokespersons Zorawar Singh Jamwal, Advocate Parimoksh Seth, Media In-Charge Dr Pardeep Mahotra at party headquarters here today asked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to step down from the Chair as he has totally failed on fronts due to his visionless and biased approach.

Senior BJP leader and J&K UT BJP spokesperson Zorawar Singh Jamwal in his address termed the budget presented by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as visionless, directionless and biased towards the National Conference.

Zorawar Singh said the Chief Minister himself has admitted that the budget is NC-centric, which, according to him, clearly exposes his inability to govern the Union Territory in a fair and inclusive manner. He further pointed out that "A Chief Minister who openly accepts such bias has no moral authority to continue in office and should vacate his chair for a more competent person".

Zorawar Singh said the budget has failed to address the real issues of Jammu and Kashmir and has disappointed every section of society. Referring to the National Conference election manifesto, he said the party had promised twelve free LPG cylinders to women belonging to the BPL category, but the promise has now been reduced to six cylinders, that too restricted only to AAY households.

He pointed out that AAY beneficiaries run into only thousands, while women in Jammu and Kashmir are in lakhs, calling it a clear betrayal of poll promises. The BJP spokesperson said the Chief Minister has virtually taken a U-turn on his commitments and has no moral grounds to continue in office. He added that during budget consultations, the BJP had suggested several reforms to make the Union Territory self-reliant and financially strong, but the Chief Minister ignored all such suggestions.

Now, by admitting that there is no “magic wand” and that the government will largely depend on Union Government schemes, Omar Abdullah has openly accepted his failures, Zorawar Singh said. He further criticised the government for making tall claims about employment.

Zorawar said the budget talks about providing 23000 jobs on a fast-track basis, but the Chief Minister has conveniently forgotten the promise of creating 4.25 lakh jobs under Mission Yuva.He said such contradictions reflect poor planning and a lack of seriousness towards the youth of the Union  Territory.

Zorawar Singh Jamwal also accused the Chief Minister of discriminating against non-NC legislators. He claimed that more development works are being tendered in constituencies represented by NC legislators, while areas represented by non-NC legislators are being ignored.

However, he said that development has not completely stopped in those areas only because of the timely intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the implementation of various Central Government schemes. In his address Spokesperson, Advocate Parimoksh Seth said the current budget has nothing concrete for women, youth and elderly citizens.

Advocate Parimoksh Seth said that there is no clear policy mentioned in the budget to save the youth from the menace of drugs or to rehabilitate those already affecte d.He also expressed serious concern over the complete neglect of daily wagers, stating that the government continues to mislead them by forming committees for regularisation, which have achieved nothing so far.

Advocate Parimoksh Seth said such failures make it clear that Omar Abdullah should vacate office immediately and let some intelligent person assumes the chair, who can take along the people from both Jammu as well as Kashmir jointly towards development and self reliance.