Perform or people will teach you a lesson: Mehbooba Mufti to colleagues

JAMMU: Getting down to business soon after taking over, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today asked her ministerial colleagues to preform to provide good governance and corruption-free administration, failing which the people will "teach you a lesson" in next elections.

Conscious of the divergence of views in her PDP-BJP coalition government, she also underlined the need for the Council of Ministers to work as a "cohesive force to ensure intra and inter-regional harmony."

Addressing the first meeting of the Council of Ministers here, she said the PDP-BJP coalition government would work with fresh resolve to accomplish her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's "unfinished agenda" of peace, harmony and development for Jammu and Kashmir.

"The greatest tribute to Mufti Sahab will be if all of us work with sincerity, seriousness and honesty and reach out to the people and provide them the much-needed relief," she said.

Mehbooba said the people have lot of expectations from her government and it is the responsibility of the Ministers, including the Chief Minister, and other government functionaries to come up to their expectations.

"The people are very vigilant today and keep it in mind that if you fail to perform they will teach you a lesson in next elections," she told her ministerial colleagues.

Asking her colleagues to get down to work immediately, Mehbooba said the urgent task before the government is to focus on development, good governance and corruption-free administration.

Development and good governance will have the desired impact on the ground only in an environment of peace and stability, she underlined.

She said the broader roadmap for PDP-BJP coalition government has already been spelled out in the "Agenda of Alliance".

She said the governance reforms initiated by the PDP-BJP government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, including ensuring transparency in recruitments and transfers, would be carried forward with fresh momentum.

The Chief Minister said that the ministers shouldn't confine themselves to their constituencies or a particular region, but reach out to the people in every nook and corner of the State to mitigate their sufferings.