SRINAGAR: Trouble erupted over Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary’s visit to Udhampur on Tuesday, as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers protested over the alleged exclusion of the local MLA from an outreach programme and inspections of development works.
BJP workers led by Udhampur East MLA RS Pathania converged at Majalta tehsil headquarters to protest what they termed the exclusion of the local legislator from the official programmes.
As the Deputy Chief Minister’s cavalcade passed through the area, BJP workers waved black flags and raised slogans against him.
According to the itinerary prepared by the Deputy Chief Minister’s personal section, he was scheduled to inspect three works — the Sidhra-Surinsar-Mansar Road, the double-lane motorable bridge on the Majalta Link Road, and the ongoing work at the Munsif Court Complex in Majalta.
Enraged over the Deputy Chief Minister’s actions, Pathania filed a notice for breach of privilege and contempt of the House against him with Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather.
In the notice, Pathania claimed that the Deputy Chief Minister’s actions amounted to direct defiance of the government’s standing instructions, which mandate that legislators be invited to all official functions.
He further submitted that organising an outreach camp and conducting a series of on-the-spot inspections while keeping the local MLA out of the loop constituted a prima facie breach of the immunities and privileges of a member of the House.
The Deputy Chief Minister and Pathania are currently engaged in a war of words, with the latter demanding the former’s removal from office on the basis of complaints allegedly lodged against him by National Conference legislators during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on June 3. (KNO)
