J&K Assembly session (Pic credit: ANI) SRINAGAR: BJP MLAs held a parallel “session” Friday on J&K Assembly lawns after nearly a dozen party members were evicted by the Speaker and others walked out over continued opposition to the passage of the resolution demanding the restoration of special status , revoked in 2019 with Article 370’s abrogation. The protests followed Thursday’s bedlam in J&K’s inaugural assembly session as a Union territory (UT) when BJP MLAs had clashed with marshals after being ordered out by Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather of NC. The standoff appeared to deepen Friday when leader of opposition Sunil Sharma of BJP warned the parallel “session” should not be taken lightly and threatened to run a “parallel govt” if the behaviour of the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) govt doesn’t change.
Sharma cited assurances by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah about restoring J&K’s statehood and accused NC of creating a situation to ensure the move was thwarted. “NC moved a resolution against the decision taken by Parliament on Aug 5, 2019, showing its separatism in the House. I challenge Omar Abdullah to show where J&K’s special status was mentioned in the Indian Constitution.
If he can, I will quit politics,” Sharma said. He termed Article 370 a temporary provision that is now “history” and accused Rather of indulging in “unconstitutional acts”. Tempers ran high at the parallel “session”, which.