Party discussed concrete measures to bounce back;
New Recruitment policy to be scrapped, Power Tariff to be reviewed
Had offered resignation on Guru’s execution but few colleagues prevailed: CM
Srinagar: After over seven hours of hectic deliberations on the probable causes that led to its debacle in just concluded Lok Sabha elections in the state, National Conference on Tuesday finished its retrospective meeting at party headquarters here pledging to take certain pro-people concrete measures in order to bounce back with full strength.
A senior party leader and minister told KNS that besides various other issues the execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru, 2010 civilian killings, employment policies and lack of proper mobilization topped the feedback coming from block level party cadres. The meeting that was attended by almost all the legislators, district presidents, district secretaries and block presidents started at 10 O’clock was presided over by Dr Farooq Abdullah.
In his address, party sources told KNS, Dr Farooq said that NC has faced major challenges in the past as well and the latest poll result should not demoralize the party cadres. “We have seen such challenges in past as well. We should not live in past as a bright future is ahead. We should pledge to work hard and bounce back with full strength,” a senior NC leader told KNS while quoting Dr Farooq Abdullah saying in the meeting.
He added that at around 2 pm Dr Farooq left the meeting because of some engagement and the meeting continued to discuss the issues threadbare under the chair of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. In his address Omar accepted the responsibility of the debacle attributing party’s worst performance to many issues like misunderstanding over execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru, mishandling of 2010 unrest, new recruitment policy, flat power tariff and the administrative inertia.
Sources in the meeting said that the Chief Minister observed that Opposition Peoples Democratic Party that recorded a major win in Kashmir had exploited the execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru. “We need to make people understand that there were no signatures of Chief Minister required on Afzal Guru’s execution file. There was no case registered against Guru in the state and the signatures of the chief ministers were no required. There decision was entirely taken by the central government,” the NC leader told KNS while quoting the Chief Minister.
The chief minister also admitted before the meeting that the situation in 2010 was mishandled which resulted into over 120 civilian killings. “Those killings could have been prevented to a large extent,” the NC leader told KNS while quoting the chief minister.
The block president present in the meeting complained of poor liaison between the party cadres and the district administration. “We told the meeting that the poor liaison between NC cadres and the administration was one of the reasons which is why the NC had to face the brunt,” an NC block president told KNS.
In his concluding remarks, the Chief Minister hinted at scrapping of new recruitment policy, reviewing of electricity tariff and certain other pro people measures which would be taken before the assembly elections scheduled to be held late this year. The meeting also decided to gear up and chalk out its block level programmes to reach out to people ahead of the assembly elections.