The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Tuesday hit out at Governor Satya Pal Malik for hinting that a “foreign-educated person” will be the mayor of Srinagar.

The reference was to Malik’s interview to NDTV on Monday in which he had hinted that a foreign-educated person was going to become the mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).

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JKPCC vice-president Ghulam Nabi Monga, while expressing surprise over the Governor’s remarks Monday, said “the ongoing elections have lost the credibility as BJP-RSS has already decided as to who would be the mayor”.

Monga also hit out at the Governor for “failing to uphold the constitutional authority” of the Raj Bhavan, saying the Governor being the constitutional head of the state should “not play in the hands of BJP-RSS”.

“It was surprising to see that such irresponsible statement has come from none other than the Governor of the state,” he said.

Seeking clarity from Malik over the remarks, Monga said the statement is going to cause “severe damages” to electoral exercise currently underway in the state.

He alleged that the BJP and RSS have decided as to who would be the mayor of the SMC and “the Governor has been assigned the task to complete the process before the outcome of the elections”.

“This is something that needs to be ascertained, for the fact, the people in the state will again loose the faith in the democratic process,” Monga said.

The National Conference on Tuesday had said that Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik’s recent remark favouring a particular individual for the post of mayor of Srinagar was shocking and puts a big question mark on the impartiality of the his office.