After protesting outside CM’s home, J-K MP faces ire from own party, ally Congress

Apart from Mehdi, the opposition PDP’s Waheed ur Rehman Para and Iltija Mufti also attended Monday’s protest as general category students demanded the Abdullah government slash reservation in UT’s jobs and education to 25% from the current nearly 60%.

Sagar, while underlining that the issue of reservation was important, said Mehdi leading students to the party president and vice-president’s door “should not have happened”. There are several ways of “not just getting your point across to the party but also to convince them”, he said.

“He (Mehdi) is a senior leader and the sitting MP for Srinagar, but he is part of a political party and he cannot be bigger than that,” Sagar said.

Sagar also criticised Mehdi for “sitting with the opposition”. “These are people always looking for an opportunity to counter us and make our good work look bad. What is their credibility? They have been rejected by the people,” said Sagar.

Congress leader Mir said Mehdi should have discussed the issue “within” his party.

“If he felt the need to represent the issues of the youth, (with) the CM at his disposal, he should discuss it within the party and the government instead of coming out on the roads and for the benefit of cameras,” Mir told a press conference at the Congress office.

Mir said there are varying figures on the composition of the population of J&K, “which becomes an issue when deciding on the proportionate reservation”. “The best way to address this has already been suggested by Rahul Gandhi ji, which is to have a caste census in the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, after some of the protesting students met the CM Monday and said he asked for six months to review the reservation policy in the UT, PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti said the time frame was “too long”. A number of recruitments could take place in the next months and it could “push the open merit candidates to the wall”, she said.

The PDF chief said the NC, despite having three MPs (including Ladakh) and at least 50 MLAs, was seeking six months to decide on a critical issue “because they believe the court will decide on the matter in that time, absolving them of their responsibility.”

The reservation issue has also been challenged in the High Court of J&K and Ladakh.ss