Srinagar: Three weeks ahead of the Assembly session, Independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rasheed (in pic) today submitted a bill in the Assembly Secretariat seeking the restoration of the titles of ‘Sadr-e-Riyasat’ (President) and ‘Wazeer-e-Azam’ (Prime Minister) for the posts of Governor and Chief Minister, respectively, in the state.
The move came days after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court observed that the conversion of the post of ‘Sadr-e-Riyasat’ into Governor in 1965 was against the state’s Constitution but left it to the state Legislature to decide whether to continue with the existing constitutional arrangement or revert it.
Rasheed, who has stoked several controversies in the past including by holding a beef party at the MLA hostel here, said he submitted the bill to this effect in the Assembly Secretariat in Jammu, where the Budget session will start on January 18.
Citing the “historic” judgement of the High Court, the MLA came down heavily on the ruling PDP and opposition National Conference for “not showing the required response” to it and said “their poor response has exposed their claims about autonomy and ‘self-rule'”.
He said the NC seems to have given up its agenda and “succumbed” to New Delhi’s pressure after its autonomy resolution was “thrown into the trash bin” by the then central government and the PDP has stopped talking about ‘self-rule’ which also seeks the “restoration of the Sadr-e-Riyasat and Wazeer-e-Azam titles”.
