SRINAGAR, Jan 31: The war of words between two senior Congress leaders – Taj Mohi- ud-Din and Abdul Gani Vakil – refuses to die down with the two leaders continuing to level changes against each other.
Even as Vakil has demanded for sacking of Minister for PHE, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, the latter has “decided” to move court and has sought Vakil’s immediate expulsion from the party “as recommended by the Disciplinary Committee”.
Talking to Kashmir Times over phone from Jammu, Taj said, “He (Vakil) is a nuisance, a blackmailer. Disciplinary Committee has recommended his expulsion from the party. Let the party high command immediately take action on the recommendation so that he (Vakil) is shown the door. The party has been tolerating him for long.”
Taj said that 12 senior leaders of state Congress unit have written to UPA chairperson and president Indian Nation Congress (INC), Sonia Gandhi about the misconduct of Vakil.
“Tara Chand, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, GM Saroori, Haji Nisar Ali, Majeed Wani, Manzoor Ganaie are the signatories to the letter,” he said.
The PHE minister ridiculed Vakil’s claim that he was supported by all state Congress leaders in his “fight” against Taj.
“All the Congress leaders have denied supporting Vakil. Some of them personally called me and some have given written statements in newspapers,” he said. “They said they never attended the so-called meeting.”
Stating that Vakil can not dictate terms to him, Taj said that he has decided to move court.
“I have no skeleton in my cupboard. How can he (Vakil) level charges against me like this? I am collecting all the data, and will soon move the court. Let him (Vakil) prove the charges there,” he said.
Coming down heavily on Vakil, Taj said that Vakil has not won a single election all his life.
“He tries to blackmail all the ministers. He has this uncanny habit of leveling changes against his own colleagues,” he said, adding that before writing letter to him, Vakil had written a similar letter to Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand, accusing him of gross misconduct.
“We showed the letter to Ghulam Nabi Azad also. I talked with Azad sahib personally about the matter. He said he was not going to tolerate all this,” Taj said. Referring to the alleged corruption and mismanagement in his department, Taj said that all these allegations were examined and found to be baseless.
“Whenever news about any financial misconduct publishes in papers, departmental enquiry starts. We receive paper cutting from Information department,” he said, adding that Vakil does not understand the functioning of the government.
Taj said that when Vakil had made allegations against him and the departments he head, he had shot a letter to Vakil.
“Though it was not obligatory on my part to write to him, but I wrote a letter to him informing him about the departmental inquiries conducted from time to time,” he said.
Talking to Kashmir Times, Vakil refuted that Disciplinary Committee had recommended his expulsion.
“There are no such recommendations against me. Even JKPCC president, (Prof Saif-ud-Din) Soz sahib has denied making such recommendation against me,” he said.
Stating that he had not spoken to Taj for the last four years, Vakil rejected all the allegations leveled by Taj against him.
“It is his (Taj’s) frustration, which is forcing him to level baseless allegations against me,” he said. “I’m not on talking terms with him for the last four years so there is no question of having sought any favour from him,” he said.
“I will quit politics if he (Taj) will prove that I have send him any letter or even any slip recommending anybody during his tenure as minister,” he said.
“I have launched jihad against corruption. I don’t intervene in anybody’s affairs. Despite being a former minister, I don’t own a vehicle,” Vakil told KTNS.
Vakil reiterated that he would expose all the bungling and scams in PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control departments led by Taj Mohi-ud-Din.
“I will leave no stone unturned till all the scams are exposed,” Vakil said.
He claimed that he was following the mission of Sonia Gandhi and INC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi against corruption.
Vakil alleged that Taj was involved in corruption since he was minister for CAPD in the previous government and corruption case is pending against him (Taj) in State Accountability Commission(SAC), for which, according to Vakil, Taj had sought a High Court stay and that case is pending for investigation in the SAC.
Welcoming the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s decision of handing over Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed's case file to Crime Branch, Vakil said that similar inquiry should be conducted in the alleged corruption and bungling in PHE department.
Expressing surprise over the silence of opposition over the issues, Vakil said, "I wonder why PDP (People's Democratic Party) and other opposition parties have preferred silence over these important issues
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