Jammu, May 13 (KINS): Leader of Opposition Sunil Kumar Sharma on Wednesday said that Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather’s decision to hand over the chairmanship of eight out of nine House committees to MLAs of the ruling National Conference-led alliance appears to be an attempt to turn the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly into the National Conference’s headquarters, Nawai Subah.
In a statement, Sunil Sharma said that the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly belongs to the people of J&K and that the BJP will resist any move to turn it into the “fiefdom” of any political party.
“The decision to appoint eight MLAs from the ruling alliance as heads of the committees is totally unjustified and an insult to the mandate of the people of J&K,” he said, adding that the universally accepted principle of proportional representation has been ignored by the Speaker.
He said that while the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly empower the Speaker to nominate chairpersons of House committees, such discretion must be exercised in a fair and balanced manner.
“First-time MLAs from the ruling party have been appointed as heads of different committees, while senior legislators from the opposition have been ignored,” he said.
He further stated that the ruling alliance, with 54 MLAs, has been given charge of eight committees, while the BJP, with 29 MLAs, has been allotted the chairmanship of only one committee.
“Out of the eight committees allotted to the ruling alliance, five will be headed by the National Conference, which has 41 MLAs,” he said, adding that the move reflects a “sinister design” to turn the J&K Assembly into the headquarters of the ruling party.(KINS)
“Speaker Turning J&K Assembly into Nawai Subah”: LoP Sunil Sharma
