In a rare occasion for the newly cobbled coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and State Education Minister Nayeem Akhtar sees himself cornered not by opposition National Conference (NC) but by coalition partner BJP over education system.
Akhtar and his ministry is busy preparing details for the half-an-hour debate scheduled for Friday as the BJP mounted pressure to discuss the “education mess” and accused Jammu education commissioner of failing to deliver.
“The Commissioner has taken away all the powers of director school education in Jammu and is one-man army. He should be removed and health of education sector be restored,” BJP’s Ravindra Raina told the House.
He alleged Urdu teacher has been sent to teach Chemistry and History teacher Maths.
The BJP legislators, including junior education minister BJP Priya Sethi, distanced themselves from senior minister Akhtar, who has ended the random transfer policy to chagrin of other ministers, particularly from the BJP.
“I think I am being targeted for ending the transfer industry in the State by regulating and bringing transparency in transfer of teachers and masters in Jammu and Kashmir. We are ready for the debate,” said Akhtar.
The issue, however, brought embarrassment for the coalition government where the ruling partner is questioning the functioning of its own minister and cast doubts over the functioning of their own senior officials.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed assured the House to have a full-fledged debate on the issue in the Assembly.
This is rare in the history of coalition governments in Jammu and Kashmir that ruling partners see themselves on two sides of the fence and pull each other down. Source said PDP has expressed its disenchantment over the issue to the BJP top brass, as most MLAs being first-timers in thae Assembly.
