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Srinagar

National Conference Wednesday said J&K Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu’s criticism of the Central Government’s demonetization move while speaking at the PRS Conference in New Delhi has contradicted Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s earlier unqualified praise for the initiative and yet again highlighted how the Chief Minister was desperate to heap praise on the Prime Minister even when her understanding of such critical issues was dismal at best. NC State Spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu asked Mehbooba Mufti to ascertain the affects of demonitisation on the State – as highlighted by her own Finance Minister – before subjecting her own Government and the State to such public humiliation.

Pertinently, at a session at PRS Annual Conference on “Effective Legislatures” held in New Delhi, J&K Finance Minister Dr. Haseeb Drabu had said that States would have to bear the consequences of the demonetization decision of the Central Government in terms of “decreased consumption” that would amount to a “loss of forty-two paisa for a rupee” for the State Government. Speaking at the Conference, the J&K Finance Minister also criticized the arbitrary nature of the decision saying that while the States had to bear the consequences of demonetization, they were not a party to the decision.

“We understand how Prime Minister Modi has been nominated as the official ‘Toofan Ka Admi’ for the PDP and that our Chief Minister is trying hard to salvage the last vestiges of her self-destroyed political career by praising the Prime Minister right, left and center. However, she should take her own Finance Minister into confidence and ask him to lie in symmetry with her. This glaring contradiction is not only a cause of embarrassment for the Chief Minister and her party but also the State Government and hence reflects poorly on the State”, the NC Spokesperson added.

“No Chief Minister in the entire country today is as desperate to praise the Prime Minister and the Central Government as Mehbooba Mufti. Blindly praising the Central Government for all its initiatives – even those that have hurt the State as clearly admitted by the State Finance Minister in the case of demonetization – is a level of sycophancy that doesn’t behoove an elected Chief Minister” the NC Spokesperson said.

“Mehbooba Mufti has made a joke of the constitutional position she holds in a system of federalism. It seems like the Chief Minister has decided to act a mere cheerleader of the Prime Minister and the Central Government”, the NC Spokesperson further said in the statement issued from National Conference Headquarters on Wednesday.

The NC Spokesperson said the Chief Minister should save herself from further embarrassment by trying to base her statements on facts and objectivity rather than her underlying desperation to praise the Prime Minister even on issues that are beyond her comprehension.

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