NC chooses Abdul Rahim Rather as J&K Assembly Speaker
Senior National Conference (NC) leader and seven-time MLA Abdul Rahim Rather was elected as the speaker of the J&K Assembly on Monday, while PDP MLA Waheed ur Rehman Parra introduced a resolution opposing the abrogation of Article 370.
Pro-tem Speaker Mubarak Gul of the NC announced that Abdul Rahim Rather has been unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Assembly.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA from Pulwama, Waheed ur Rehman Parra, introduced a resolution in the Assembly opposing the abrogation of Article 370.
NC spokesman and MLA Tanvir Sadiq had previously stated that the NC would bring in a resolution for the restoration of Article 370 during the current session of the J&K Assembly.
Interestingly, while the Congress is committed to supporting the restoration of statehood to J&K, its MLAs are unlikely to support the resolution for restoring Article 370.
The NC has made the restoration of statehood and Article 370 its main electoral plank. Although the passing of a resolution for the restoration of Article 370 by the J&K Assembly would have no bearing on the supremacy of the Indian Parliament on this issue, the NC strategy is primarily meant to apply pressure on the Centre while demonstrating to voters that the party stands by its electoral promises.
The five-day long session of the J&K Legislative Assembly began on Monday with Lt Governor Manoj Sinha’s address.
A consensus decision was taken by the NC to field senior party leader and MLA from Chrar-e-Sharief constituency of Budgam district, Abdul Rahim Rather, for the Speaker’s post.
The BJP has already announced Sunil Sharma, MLA from Padder-Nagseni constituency of Kishtwar, as Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, and Narinder Singh as the party candidate for the Deputy Speaker’s post.
The current composition of the Assembly includes 42 NC MLAs, 28 BJP MLAs (with one seat vacant due to the death of BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana), 6 Congress MLAs, 3 PDP MLAs, 1 CPI (M), 1 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), 1 Peoples Conference (PC), and 7 independents.
