Deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary on Thursday said the BJP, which allegedly called independent MLA Satish Sharma “Satish Abdullah”, is now shedding crocodile tears over his exit from the cabinet in a recent reshuffle by chief minister Omar Abdullah.
“They (BJP) even refused to accept me a Hindu. If I am not a Hindu then who am I,” he asked. Choudhary also rubbished the claims of BJP that the National Conference (NC) government headed by Omar has neglected Jammu region. “I feel sad that Sharma is no longer part of our cabinet. But I am surprised to see the BJP, which called him ‘Satish Abdullah’, is now shedding crocodile tears over his removal. He questioned BJP’s duplicity over Sharma’s exit from Omar’s cabinet. The cabinet expansion has caused dissent in the NC as Mubarak Gul and Abdul Majeed Larvi openly expressed disappointment after being left out of the cabinet expansion. Larvi, however, reaffirmed his loyalty to the party despite feeling hurt. However, deputy CM expressed gratitude to the CM and NC president Farooq Abdullah for retaining him in the cabinet and continuing to repose faith in him.
During the 2024 assembly elections, the BJP had won a record 29 assembly seats, an all time high, all from Jammu region. They also called me ‘Surinder Abdullah’, Choudhary told reporters during a visit to a market in the railway station area here where a fire damaged nearly 30 shops.
“If the BJP had such objections to us, why is it now expressing concern over Sharma’s exit?,” he said and claimed that the BJP tried to get both Sharma and him dropped from Omar’s cabinet. Larvi claimed he was on the list of probable ministers While Gul said he had been dropped repeatedly. “Appointing a Hindu from Jammu as deputy CM is an honour to the region,” he said. Referring to BJP chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi’s allegation that post cabinet expansion, the NC has again become a “Muslim conference”, Choudhary questioned the BJP’s claims of secularism and inclusive governance. “They talk about ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ but do they have even one Muslim as a minister, CM or deputy CM in the governments they run across the country or in the central government?” he asked.
He was my colleague in the government until yesterday.
