Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], February 11 : Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary on Wednesday defended CM Omar Abdullah's remarks amid an uproar by the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in the Assembly in the ongoing budget session.
Speaking to the media outside the Assembly, Choudhary said that CM Abdullah never uses language which might send a wrong message or hurt anyone.
"Omar sahib never uses language which might send a wrong message or hurt anyone. Everything that happened in the Assembly yesterday was started by the BJP. There are many issues to discuss, including Mata Vaishno Devi and employment opportunities in Katra. Was the language used by a BJP MLA in the Assembly acceptable? The BJP has no agenda to speak on. Are they taking up any issues related to J&K?" he said.
He emphasised the need to discuss significant local issues, such as the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine and employment opportunities in Katra.
"If India has to become a superpower, then we will have to rise above Ram Mandir and Babri Masjid, vote bank politics," added Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary.
This comes after BJP MLAs staged a walkout from the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly on Wednesday, raising slogans of "unparliamentary sarkar" as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah entered the House.
BJP legislators have been demanding an apology from Omar Abdullah for remarks he made about them during the previous session. Leader of the Opposition and BJP MLA Sunil Sharma said he has written to the Speaker, alleging biased conduct by the House.
"I have written to the Speaker that his functioning is biased. The Speaker allows ruling-party MLAs to disrupt and interrupt. I have written to the Speaker that he is working in a biased manner," Sunil Sharma told ANI.
Earlier on Tuesday, while addressing the Assembly, Omar Abdullah criticised the India-US interim trade agreement, claiming it would adversely affect horticulture and agriculture in Jammu and Kashmir. During his speech, he also took a swipe at BJP MLAs, remarking that there had been a noticeable change in their attitude following Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent visit to the region.
"India-US trade deal is bad for J&K and will affect horticulture and agriculture in J&K. There has been a change in your attitude; it seems that by the time the Home Minister arrived, you people got a shoe beating," Abdullah said.
National Conference MLA Javed Beig slammed the BJP over its walkout from the Assembly and said that, before examining CM Abdullah's remarks, the BJP MLAs' behaviour should be looked into, as it is not right to call a sitting Chief Minister "Jhutha".
"Before looking at Omar's remarks, we should first look at the BJP's behaviour. This is the first time in the Assembly that you stand up and say 'Jhuth' whenever the CM is addressing the House.CM is the leader of the house, and when you call him 'Jhutha' again and again, there has to be a reaction; it is human nature," Beig said.
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