Srinagar, Sep 20: A day ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly’s Autumn session, the National Conference on Sunday held a special meeting of its legislators at the Banquet Hall here, bringing together NC legislators, Congress MLAs and Independent members supporting the government to discuss a coordinated approach to the proceedings of the House.
The meeting was chaired by NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah and attended by Chief Minister and Leader of the House Omar Abdullah, NC General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, Chief Whip Mubarak Gul and other NC legislators. Congress legislators, the CPI(M) representative and Independent MLAs supporting the government also attended.
The meeting discussed the Assembly session beginning Monday and deliberated on public issues, demands and other matters of importance to be raised during the proceedings.
The legislators also discussed how they would approach the House and raise issues concerning the people.
Addressing the legislators, Farooq Abdullah urged them to accord priority to the concerns of the people and effectively highlight the issues, difficulties and demands of their respective constituencies during the session.
He said the Legislative Assembly was a forum for raising public concerns, seeking answers from the government and holding meaningful discussions on matters of public interest.
Farooq emphasised that the primary responsibility of legislators was to articulate the concerns of the people in the House and seek solutions to their problems from the government.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, NC chief spokesperson TanvirSadiq said the meeting was held as part of the usual practice of convening the Legislative Party ahead of every Assembly session.
He said the discussions were held in a cordial atmosphere and covered various issues concerning Jammu and Kashmir, with detailed deliberations on the issues that needed to be raised in the Assembly.
Sadiq said Congress, Independent and National Conference legislators first held a meeting together, following which Congress legislators held a separate meeting with the Chief Minister.
“There were detailed discussions on how to conduct ourselves in the House and how to raise the issues of the people, based on the mandate given to us,” he said.
Sadiq specifically underlined the participation of Congress in the discussions.
“Congress leader Tariq Hamid Karra and other MLAs were present in both the initial meeting and the separate meeting. There should be no doubt or misunderstanding about this. The alliance is strong and, InshaAllah, the Assembly will function smoothly and effectively from tomorrow,” he said.
The meeting assumes significance ahead of a session in which the Opposition, including the BJP and PDP, PC is preparing to raise a range of issues concerning governance and public welfare.
