J&K budget session begins: Governor leaves in a huff, Opposition MLAs shout slogans during anthem
J&K Governor NN Vohra speaking in the state assembly. (File/Express Photo) J&K Governor NN Vohra speaking in the state assembly. (File/Express Photo)
The budget session of both the Houses of Jammu and Kashmir Legislature began on a stormy note Monday. Amid sloganeering from both opposition National Conference and Congress MLAs, Governor N N Vohra cut short his address to the joint sitting of the legislature and left the Central Hall without even waiting for the conclusion of the National Anthem.
The tone for the day was already set when Opposition legislators were sitting on their seats with banners that had slogans like “stop killings”, revoke PSAs, punish guilty” and so on.
Before the arrival of the Governor, there were heated exchanges between ruling PDP MLA Mushtaq Ahmed from Tral and Opposition over carrying banners inside the Central Hall. A few minutes later when the Governor entered the Central Hall, the opposition legislators were on their feet raising slogans against the PDP-BJP coalition government. They shouted slogans like “Qatil sarkar hai, hai; lathigoli ki sarkar, nahin chalegi, nahin chalegi”.
The sloganeering stopped only during the national anthem. It restarted when Governor began his address with opposition legislators even thumping the benches and standing on their chairs.
As the disruptions continued, the Governor cut short his address within 15 minutes and left the venue without even waiting for the National Anthem to conclude. The opposition legislators, too, continued sloganeering during the anthem.
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