BJP wants currency minister out

NEW DELHI:The BJP has condemned Jammu & Kashmir finance minister Tariq Hameed Karra’s proposal for a separate currency for the state. The party has demanded that Mr Karra be sacked, as the proposal is “fraught with separatist insinuation”. The party has also criticised the Congress, which is heading the coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir. The BJP has demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh respond to “such a fundamentalist and divisive remarks, especially in a sensitive border state.”

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “in the garb of autonomy, the statement spews separatism and such a demand by a senior minister does not absolve the Congress leadership in the state or chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad... the faliure to sack the minister so far amply proves this point”

But it wasn’t merely Mr Karra who was at the receiving end of the lead opposition party’s condemnation. The BJP said it found the “deafening silence” of the top brass of the Congress party, the prime minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, “appaling”. This especially as the issue “has major ramifications on the country’s sovereignty”.

“The indifference exhibited by them amply confirms misplaced priorities on issues of national concern. It is shocking that with an eye on the impending state elections and the greed to hold power even at the cost of the country’s sovereignty, the Congress has chosen to ignore the bizarre and divisive statement.”