The National Conference (NC) has said that Malik’s recent remark favouring a particular individual for the post of Mayor of Srinagar is shocking.
Satya Pal Malik, Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo: IANS)
Governor Satya Pal Malik landed himself in a serious controversy by “naming” the new Mayor of Srinagar even before polling for the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) could get over.
Various political parties have also accused him of having denigrated the stature of the Raj Bhavan citing his other political statements in the past few days.
The National Conference (NC) has said that Malik’s recent remark favouring a particular individual for the post of Mayor of Srinagar is shocking and puts a big question mark on the impartiality of the governor’s office.
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Senior NC leader and MLA Mubarak Gul and some other party leaders in a statement said the ongoing election process is a “smokescreen” to hide the machinations of the Governor’s office to throttle the democratic institutions in the state.
NC and Congress leaders say that Malik’s remark exposes the elections as a farce and more of a “selection”.
In a recent TV interview, Malik had said that “as per my information Srinagar is getting a new mayor who is a foreign-educated young person”.
His remarks were in response to a question regarding the PDP and NC boycotting the elections. The Governor was apparently referring to Junaid Azim Mattu who had a few days ago resigned as chief spokesman of the NC and also from the party to contest the SMC elections.
These comments indicate that the elections are “managed”, alleged NC spokesperson Aga Rohullah, as second-phase of voting took place on Wednesday in the staggered four-phase civic polls in Jammu -Kashmir, which will end on 16 October.
Congress leader GN Monga said that people were yet to cast their votes for the SMC but the Governor has already announced the mayor of Srinagar.
CPI(M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said that the Governor should not have made such remarks.
Malik is the first-ever career politician to be appointed Governor of the state. Earlier Governors were either top retired Army officers or bureaucrats.
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