Cong, BJP spar over Kashmir issue in C’garh Assembly

Raipur, Aug 22 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh Assembly todaywitnessed uproar over statements of some BJP MLAs who blamedJawaharlal Nehru for the Kashmir problem. The special day-long session had been called to ratifythe Constitution Amendment Bill on GST. While senior BJP MLA Devjibhai Patel was speaking on theuniformity in taxation system from "Kashmir to Kanyakumari"which GST would bring, a Congress member mentioned the ongoingturmoil in Kashmir. Patel said the country’s first Prime Minister wasresponsible for the problems in Kashmir, to which the CongressMLAs objected. Another ruling party MLA, Shivratan Sharma, said thecountry is still suffering consequences of Nehru’s decisionson Kashmir and he was solely responsible for Kashmir problem. State Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel said such commentswere highly objectionable. Echoing him, the leader ofopposition T S Singhdeo referred to a book by a former IASofficer to state that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had argued thatKashmir, being a Muslim-majority area, should go to Pakistan. It was Nehru who sent troops when the Pakistani tribesmenadvanced in the valley, he pointed out. Singhdeo also said his party was ready for discussion onthe issue, to which Parliamentary Affairs Minister AjayChandrakar said BJP too was ready for the same. But theSpeaker pacified both of them. Later, during his reply to the discussion on GST, ChiefMinister Raman Singh stressed that Sardar Patel had never saidthat Kashmir should have been a part of Pakistan. Patel merged the princely states with Union of India,and credit for the present shape of India goes to him, hesaid. Singh also made a comment about rulers of the princelystates, to which Singhdeo took objection. Raman Singh said he was ready to hold a discussion onKashmir issue in the Assembly. However, the issue was notfurther discussed and the GST bill was ratified unanimously.PTI TKP KRKSMNJMF