Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Prof. Saif-ud-Din Soz on Thursday tried to play down the reports of bad blood between the alliance partners in the aftermath of venomous statements of NC MLA Dr Mustafa Kamal against Congress leadership and controversial “Azadi for Kashmir” remarks of Congress minister Sham Lal Sharma.
Responding to media queries after the culmination of Alliance Coordination Committee meet late on Thursday evening, Prof. Soz asserted, “Whatever Dr Farooq Abdullah and the chief minister Omar Abdullah say that holds importance as it reflects the party’s viewpoint or policy. As far as Mustafa Kamal is concerned, he does not hold any important party post. He is not a spokesman so his statement does not hold any importance.”
In response to the queries pertaining to Sham’s remarks, his answer was, “Don’t relate it (statement) to the functioning of the coordination committee. I was also present in the rally where he made this statement. As PCC chief what I had stated there reflects the party’s policy and view point and holds importance.”
It needs to be mentioned here that Mr Sham had linked his remarks with Mustafa’s outburst against Congress.
Notably Prof. Soz even earlier had defended minister for health Sham Sharma by describing him as “a robust nationalist.” After Mr Sham was issued show cause notice by Congress high command on December 11 to explain his controversial remarks i.e. “Azadi for Kashmir, separate state for Jammu and Union Territory status for Ladakh”, Mr Soz had maintained that there was nothing extraordinary in the situation in which the letter was issued to him by the party’s disciplinary committee.
“Since I was present there when Sham Lal made the statement there in Dogri language, I know the context in which he spoke. Much of what has been attributed to him these days is, to a large extent, misrepresentation of facts,” Mr Soz had averred.