Srinagar: It was a noisy morning for the
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. It was scheduled to debate and vote today on
a controversial resolution that demands clemency for Afzal Guru, who
has been awarded the death sentence for his role in the attack on the
Indian Parliament in 2001, but the vote had to be put off as members
forced repeated adjournments.
The chaos was caused by BJP MLAs protesting against the resolution and the Congress protesting over a completely different issue - demanding the expulsion of BJP MLAs accused of cross-voting during the winter session.
The People's Democratic Party (PDP), the main Opposition party has accused the Omar Abdullah government of scuttling the debate and vote. Mr Abdullah said, "The J&K Assembly today became the victim of national politics." (J&K Assembly victim of national politics: Omar)
How parties would vote on this issue would make major political statements and they would indeed need to balance local sentiment with national outlook.
The BJP, therefore, which stresses its zero-tolerance for terror policy, has objected to the resolution.
The Congress had not issued a whip; it said it would decide when the resolution was introduced in the Assembly. But senior Congressman and minister in the state government Taj Mohiudin said the party's MLAs had been asked to vote "according to their conscience." The Congress has been accused at the centre, mainly by the BJP, of being soft on terror. So voting in favour of the resolution would lead to a contretemps.
The ruling National Conference, headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, took the same route as its ally - asking its members to vote "according to their conscience."
Mehbooba Mufti's PDP backs the resolution and so her anger at the debate and vote being put off.
The challenge the resolution poses could be why the Assembly was repeatedly adjourned this morning - analysts read this as a possible attempt by different parties to defer the vote.
Resource: http://www.ndtv.com/
The chaos was caused by BJP MLAs protesting against the resolution and the Congress protesting over a completely different issue - demanding the expulsion of BJP MLAs accused of cross-voting during the winter session.
The People's Democratic Party (PDP), the main Opposition party has accused the Omar Abdullah government of scuttling the debate and vote. Mr Abdullah said, "The J&K Assembly today became the victim of national politics." (J&K Assembly victim of national politics: Omar)
How parties would vote on this issue would make major political statements and they would indeed need to balance local sentiment with national outlook.
The BJP, therefore, which stresses its zero-tolerance for terror policy, has objected to the resolution.
The Congress had not issued a whip; it said it would decide when the resolution was introduced in the Assembly. But senior Congressman and minister in the state government Taj Mohiudin said the party's MLAs had been asked to vote "according to their conscience." The Congress has been accused at the centre, mainly by the BJP, of being soft on terror. So voting in favour of the resolution would lead to a contretemps.
The ruling National Conference, headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, took the same route as its ally - asking its members to vote "according to their conscience."
Mehbooba Mufti's PDP backs the resolution and so her anger at the debate and vote being put off.
The challenge the resolution poses could be why the Assembly was repeatedly adjourned this morning - analysts read this as a possible attempt by different parties to defer the vote.
Resource: http://www.ndtv.com/
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