Taj, Vakil lock horns
SRINAGAR, Jan 28: There seems to be no end to the internal bickering within the ranks of state unit of Congress party with the war of words among the Congress leaders only getting murkier day by day.
A serious war of words has erupted between two senior Congress leaders - Minister for PHE, Taj Mohi-ud-Din and MLC Abdul Gani Vakil. According to sources, Vakil had dispatched a letter to Congress high command in New Delhi, alleging that Taj was involved in scams in the departments under his portfolio.
Reacting strongly to the accusations, Taj today threatened to file a defamation suit against Vakil “for leveling false allegations” against him.
Talking to a local news gathering agency, KNS, the minister for PHE Irrigation and Flood Control came down heavily on Vakil, terming him “irresponsible person who would always level false allegations against others.”
“Vakil is breaching party discipline and has gone out of control now. He (Vakil) has no standing on ground and has lost all the elections he has contested till now. He is frustrated and disgruntled,” Taj said.
Reacting to Taj’s statement, Vakil has written an open letter to the minister, expressing his dismay over the “threat” of defamation suit to a “senior colleague”.
Talking to Kashmir Times over phone from Jammu, Vakil said that he had only demanded a probe into the alleged bungling and financial misconduct in the PHE department.
“Demanding enquiry into financial mess is everybody’s right,” he said. “I wonder how demanding an inquiry into the bunglings and brazen loot of tax payers’ money calls for defamation.”
“Not only as a Congressman, but as a citizen, I have all the legitimate right to raise the issues of corruption and bunglings by any ministry or bureaucrats in our state,” the former minister said.
Vakil said it was “absurd” and “ironical” that those who had defamed the Congress party were talking of filing defamation suits against those who are working like “watchdogs of the society” and had dared to raise a voice against corruption.
“You intend to file defamation case against those party leaders who have contributed 40 years of their life for building and strengthening the party in Jammu and Kashmir state. It is disgraceful, shocking and appalling that you ignored my forewarnings to bring in transparency and accountability in the system and now are trying to snub me, which is irresponsive, arrogant and uncalled for on your part,” he wrote in the open letter.
In the letter, Vakil accused Taj of maintaining a “criminal silence” over the revelations of reported financial bunglings in the departments under Taj’s portfolio.
“Your criminal silence speaks of your irresponsive attitude and lack of will to fight corrupt practices rampant in your department,” the letter reads.
Vakil said that the issues were brought into the notice of the minister by senior Congress leaders and were also reported in newspapers, but the minister never ordered inquiry into the reported fraud, which, according to Vakil, “speaks of grave injustice and brazen loot of public money”.
“My intention to bring it to your notice the alleged mismanagement in your department was aimed at setting the things right and bringing in transparency and accountability in the system but it is quite ironical that you preferred to threaten me and not get the matter investigated instead,” the letter reads further. “I have always been raising issues of public importance both inside the house as well as outside with the intention to set the system right and bring culprits to book, but in this case instead of appreciating my view point you have threatened me of defamation.”
Blaming Taj for showing “high-headedness”, “callousness”, and “insensitivity”, Vakil said that instead of threatening to file a defamation suit, Taj should have immediately ordered an inquiry into mismanagement going on in his department.
“This type of irresponsive attitude has already badly affected image our coalition government and Congress in particular,” he said.
Taking a further dig at Taj, Vakil said that corruption cases pending against him in State Accountability Commission (SAC), land grabbing case against him and his family pending in J&K High Court and various scams surfacing from time to time in various divisions of PHE and Irrigation departments have already done enough harm to the Congress party.
“And now, you are talking of defamation suits against those who have dared to raise voice against corruption, which is inopportune and regrettable,” he said. “It is undesirable that your dictatorial way of thinking which is evident by this action of yours that instead of talking cognizance of revelations made by media, party workers or senior colleagues of yours, you did not prefer to hold inquiry into the alleged bunglings but preferred to shoot a letter to me.”
Vakil accused Taj of shielding the corrupt officers in his departments by not holding inquiries.
“By not holding inquiries into the alleged bunglings, you want to encourage such malpractices and mismanagement in your department,” he wrote to Taj. “Now since you have taken to choose to take the issue in public domain, I would like to inform you that Congress party has suffered a great setback because of your continuous criminal silence on the allegations of corruption and bunglings in your department.”
“Your (Taj’s) conduct as a minister demonstrates your incompetence, insensitivity and connivance in department, which is why you are peeved and scared of a demand of inquiry by me,” says the letter. “You seem to be scared of getting exposed in public domain as well as in Congress party. As a minister and incharge of the departments under you, you should have been in the know of mismanagement going on but for your reference I would like to cite some newspaper clippings which might open your eyes and force you to act tough on corrupt and save tax payers’ money from going to drains.”
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