Srinagar: Only one out of seven National Conference MLAs from district Srinagar attended a meeting chaired by Lok Sabha member Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi on Thursday, fuelling speculations that the party has snubbed the MP for his participation in anti-quota protest earlier this week.
Mehdi presided over the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) meeting here and reviewed the progress of various centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) and ongoing development projects in the district.
The eight MLAs from Srinagar are the members of the committee, and seven of them belong to the Mehdi’s party, the ruling NC, while Congress’ J-K chief Tariq Hameed Karra is the eighth one.
However, only Zadibal MLA Tanvir Sadiq, a Shia leader, attended the meeting, while other NC MLAs skipped it.
The absence of the NC MLAs fuelled speculations that the party’s top brass was miffed with its Srinagar MP for joining a protest on Monday outside the residence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to support the demand for “rationalisation” of reservations in Jammu and Kashmir.
A day after the protest, NC’s youth president and Hazratbal MLA Salman Sagar said Mehdi has hurt the party’s interests by providing a platform to its “enemies”.
“What he (Aga Ruhullah) did was wrong. In my opinion, it should not have happened. He provided a platform to the enemies of National Conference by these protests,” Sagar had said.
Sagar was one of the six NC MLAs who did not attend the Thursday’s meeting.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mehdi said the meeting was called to review the centrally sponsored schemes, and MLAs of the district are the members, but “some came and those who were in Jammu could not come”.
Asked whether the MLAs were invited, Mehdi said Srinagar deputy commissioner can answer how many people he had invited.
“I had approved the meeting yesterday itself,” he said.
On the remarks by his party colleague Sagar, the Srinagar MP said the issue of reservation and the future of students was important, “not me or anyone else”.
“What is your intention and motive? That day, the biggest issue was reservation, the future of the students. Are you talking about that? I, or anyone else is not important, do your work honestly. Talk about facts, rather than sensationalism,” he added.
To a question about Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari’s statement that the Monday’s protest seemed to be planted, the MP said “not everyone in this world is planted like Altaf Bukhari”.
“Altaf Bukhari himself is planted, that is why he thinks that everyone is planted,” he said.
However, NC’s chief spokesperson and MLA Zadibal told PTI “there is nothing to read between the lines” on the absence of NC legislators.
“The invitations came late last night. Some MLAs were in Jammu while some others had prior engagements. There is nothing to read between the lines,” Sadiq said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah convened a meeting with the Srinagar’s legislators at his Gupkar residence here.
The meeting was attended by all NC MLAs, except MLA Eidgah Mubarak Gul.
During the meeting, the MLAs highlighted pressing issues concerning Srinagar, including water scarcity, the power crisis, and other challenges faced by the residents, a party spokesman said.
The Chief Minister assured the legislators that Srinagar would be given the highest priority and that all issues would be addressed promptly.
