Srinagar: A day after PDP leader Mohd Dilawar Mir was sentenced to three years in jail in a corruption case, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the opposition party had evolved as "an amalgam of swindlers of all colours and shapes".
Addressing party workers from Sonawar constituency here, Omar said "PDP had evolved as an amalgam of swindlers of all colours and shapes and the conviction of PDP general secretary by a CBI court in a case of graft yesterday showcases PDP's true character and goal in politics".
Omar, the National Conference working president, said PDP leaders had been found involved in "robbing everything" from rice to land to apples to forests and now to fertilizers.
"However, knowing PDP's penchant for corruption and embezzlement, I wouldn't be surprised if (PDP patron) Mufti (Mohammad) Sayeed and his 'consultants on corruption' soon find a way to embezzle atmospheric air as well," he said.
Omar said PDP leaders have not only "stolen" rice meant for the poor and needy but also "stolen" the rice-bags meant to distribute that rice.
"Such is the outstanding caliber of PDP's choicest new faces in politics. Lo and behold, today they have officially been honored with a gold medal of corruption in stealing fertilizers and that is a new addition to the list of rice, windfall apples, forests and custodian land," he said.
The Chief Minister said unlike PDP, his party holds its leaders and minister to the highest standards of honesty and accountability.
Senior PDP leader Mir was sentenced to three years by a Delhi court yesterday in a case related to wrongful release of Rs 30 lakh and contract for sale of urea to his firm by public sector National Fertilizers Limited in 1993-1996.
67-year-old Mir, general secretary of PDP, was named by his party as a candidate for the upcoming polls from Rafiabad seat of North Kashmir. Though Mir got bail and his sentence has been suspended till January two, 2015, he will not be able to contest the forthcoming elections.
"We took concrete measures to ensure accountability and
transparency in the system and took the state out of the morass of corruption that PDP's ministers had plunged the state into," Omar said.
He said "today we stand here after the successful conclusion of a historic six-year term of good governance, systemic reforms and unprecedented development without any fingers having been raised at our honesty and sincerity".
Mentioning that his government developed 1,300 megawatts of power in the state in projects worth thousands of crores without any shades or suspicions of wrongdoing or corruption, he said PDP has not even left urea and rice when it comes to their record-breaking performance in embezzlement.
"We laid the edifice of 9,000 more megawatts of power without so much so a shadow of corruption. And as compared to this PDP has not even left urea and rice when it comes to their record-breaking performance in embezzlement," he said.
He alleged that "Sayeed was a master at doing the exact opposite of what he preaches".
"A classic example of this was Sayeed's much parroted 'Healing Touch' policy which turned out to be a 'Killing Touch' policy when he singled out and killed all those militant commanders who had declared a unilateral ceasefire and come to the talks table in Farooq Abdullah's government," Omar said.
"It is none other than Sayeed who is the biggest oppressor and tormentor of the youth of Kashmir in our entire history. It was none other than Sayeed who brought AFSPA and Governor Jagmohan to the state and it was PDP that sabotaged all efforts on AFSPA revocation," Omar said.
