NC’s. RS member Choudhary Ramzan asks MP Aga Ruhullah to resign to prove his popularity through fresh mandate
STC NEWS DESK
SRINAGAR, AUGUST 09 (STC): Bickering among National Conference members refuses to die, suggesting all is not well in the party. This times its Rajya Sabha member Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan has asked Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi to resign and seek a fresh mandate if he believes he has won the Lok Sabha election on a personal note.
“If MP Ruhullah says it is his vote, he has to prove it first. He contested the election on the National Conference ticket. The mandate was given through the party,” Ramzan said in an interview to local news agency KNS.
“If he resigns and contests again and the people bring him back, I will be the first person to congratulate him,” he said.
Ramzan was responding to questions over the ongoing differences within the National Conference and the issue of electoral mandate.
On the party’s protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, Ramzan rejected criticism that the demonstration had failed to attract adequate participation.
He said, “We did not invite people for a mass gathering. We invited the opposition because this is not only a National Conference issue. It is an issue concerning Jammu and Kashmir.”
Ramzan said representatives of several opposition parties participated in the protest and the delegation also met people in Delhi.
He also rejected criticism that the party had abandoned its demand for restoration of Article 370 after shifting its immediate focus to statehood.
“We have not left any issue. Our struggle is for the restoration of our constitutional rights. But our approach is different,” he said.
He said the people of Jammu and Kashmir had given the National Conference a clear mandate in the Assembly elections and the party was now working towards restoration of statehood while continuing its larger political struggle over constitutional rights.
He maintained that the Centre and its agencies would have taken note of the NC’s protest.
(Straight Talk Communications)
