The row triggered by the meeting of Speaker Assembly Kavinder Gupta with the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti amid the boycott of assembly by the opposition parties over the demand for debate on civilian killings in Kashmir is likely to further deepen the crisis of floor management in Kashmir. Though Speaker Assembly Kavinder Gupta says that he had gone to attend a dinner at the Chief Minister’s residence but since the dinner was hosted by Chief Minister to review the strategy of the ruling PDP-BJP alliance for the budget session and as such speaker being the custodian of the assembly should not have attended the dinner hosted by the Chief Minister for maintaining his neutrality as the presiding officer of the biggest law making body of the country. The threat of the main opposition National Conference to move a non confidence motions for breach of protocol and denigrating the position of the speaker’s office is a clear cut indication that house proceedings will be disrupted for some more days and consequently the precious time of the house will be wasted in avoidable confrontation between the government and the opposition. While the speaker assembly has been rightly blamed for attending the meeting of the ruling coalition’s meet of legislator , the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti too owes an explanation for inviting the speaker for the dinner hosted by her for the meeting of the legislators of the ruling coalition to review the strategy for the ongoing budget session in both the houses- the legislative assembly and the legislative council. Though even naives can understand that opposition won’t move a no confidence motion against the speaker assembly with the intent of removing him from the position he holds but to convey a message to the government that dragging highest offices established to maintain constitutional and legislative neutrality can’t go unnoticed and unchecked.
Now the main worry of the government is not the strategy against opposition on issues likely to become flash point of many controversies on key issues but the return of a hostile opposition to the assembly before the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu in the state assembly.
Knowing that a system of checks and balances is in place to maintain the standards of standards of the institution established for running the government neither the speaker assembly Kavinder Gupta should have attended the dinner hosted by the Chief Minister for meeting of the legislators of the ruling PDP-BJP coalition nor the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should have invited the speaker assembly for the dinner hosted by her for the legislators of ruling PDP-BJP coalition for the purpose of reviewing the government’s strategy against the opposition in the ongoing budget session of the assembly. Any attempt to drag the office of the speaker assembly into a confrontation with the opposition by the Chief Minister is both questionable and as well as condemnable.Now the main worry of the government is not the strategy against opposition on issues likely to become flash point of many controversies on key issues but the return of a hostile opposition to the assembly before the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu in the state assembly.
