Finance Minister Haseeb known for his doubtful action right from the day PDP-BJP coalition government took over the reigns of power in Jammu & Kashmir once again plunged into controversy early this week when he alone from PDP part of cabinet participated in the meeting of cabinet sub committee constituted early this year for submitting recommendation on Kashmir Police Service (KPS) cadre review. Interestingly when Haseeb Drabu participated in the cabinet sub committee meeting, his other two cabinet colleagues Nayeem Akhter and Chowdhry Zulfikar Ali boycotted the meeting and publicly accepted their disagreement with the observations of the three BJP ministers and Haseeb Drabu as the members of the cabinet sub committee. Instead of calling an explanation from the Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu for attending the meeting in absence of other two PDP ministers, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti accepted the recommendations of the committee. Interestingly the participation of Haseeb Drabu in the cabinet sub committee put the BJP in a commanding position as was evident from the official statement of BJP which said ‘ quorum was complete with four of the six member cabinet sub committee attending the meeting and submitting observations to the cabinet’. Had Haseeb Drabu not participated in the cabinet su b committee meeting, the BJP won’t have reserved the right to claim that since quorum was complete with the participation of Haseeb Drabu as fourth member of the cabinet sub committee and so the legitimacy of the observations of the cabinet sub committee are unquestionable. It is not only this time that Haseeb Drabu has went against his party but early this year when a row triggered by the defection of one PDP attached Independent legislator from Kargil to BJP in the legislative council elections early this year had put to huge embarrassment the PDP top brass, the Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu met All India BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav in Isolation.
Before Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu creates a new controversy on GST legislation better for the Chief Minister to respond to the call of the opposition for an all party meeting for a consensus on proposed GST legislation. A hasty decision by the government on GST legislation would prove counter productive for the PDP which has been already forced to surrender on the final decision over KPS cadre review.
Now when a session of the state assembly for pushing through a controversial legislation on GST (Goods & Services Tax), the Finance Minister is surrounded by yet another controversy with opposition National Conference calling upon the government an all party meeting for the purposes of consensus on GST and seeking the intervention of governor on deferment of a special four session of the state assembly on GST legislation. Before Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu creates a new controversy on GST legislation better for the Chief Minister to respond to the call of the opposition for an all party meeting for a consensus on proposed GST legislation. A hasty decision by the government on GST legislation would prove counter productive for the PDP which has been already forced to surrender on the final decision over KPS cadre review.
