Srinagar: In signs of fresh strain between coalition partners NC and Congress, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday questioned the authority of Jammu and Kashmir PCC chief Saifuddin Soz to speak on behalf of Rahul Gandhi. "I don`t know whether Soz sahab is authorised to speak on behalf of Rahul Gandhi, most certainly I am not," the National Conference leader said, noting that Rahul has never said anything about the issues of governance in the state.
Omar`s comments came after a local daily published an interview of Soz, in which he claimed Rahul was "not happy" with the governance in the state.
"If Rahul has certain feelings regarding governance he will make them known to me. All I can say is that in all the years that I have known Rahul, he has not said anything regarding the way in which the governance has been functioning here," Omar said. "If he (Rahul) has spoken to Soz sahab and Soz sahab is authorised to speak on Rahul`s behalf then I really have nothing more to say about that," the Chief Minister said.
Differences between the ruling National Conference and its coalition partner Congress came to fore recently when the state Congress rallied behind the Army after Omar announced plans to partially revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state.
Soz had on October 28 accused Omar of not consulting his party for evolving a consensus before unilaterally announcing that the Act would be revoked from some areas in J&K.
Omar, however, today asserted that his government has the authority to revoke the "controversial" law.
"I have the authority. The elected state government of any state has the authority. In this case (revocation of AFSPA), the authority rests with the governor who would act on the basis of the state government`s recommendations," he said a day after holding discussions with the Army on the possibility of partial revocation of AFSPA.
PTI