Trinamool, SP on board with Amit Shah’s J&K Prez rule extension in RS

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have decided to support the extension of President’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir which was presented in the Rajya Sabha by Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday.

Shah also presented a bill – Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 - for passage in the Upper House. Both bills have been passed by the Lok Sabha.

Jammu and Kashmir has been under Central rule since June 2018, when the BJP pulled out of the coalition government with Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP. Elections to the J&K assembly are to be announced later this year, but before that President’s Rule, which is applicable for six-month periods, has to be renewed. The central rule is scheduled to end on Tuesday.

Shah will speak in Rajya Sabha on The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 at 7 pm. The Bill proposes to give quota benefits in jobs and educational institutions to people living near the state’s International Border.

The PDP backed the resolution to extend President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir by six months. “We have faith in home minister Amit Shah,” PDP’s Rajya Sabha MP Nazeer Ahmad Laway said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Gopal Yadav announced in the Upper House that the party will support the extension of President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Trinamool Congress will support in Rajya Sabha the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and extension of President’s rule in the state, ANI reported.

In March the Election Commission had ruled out holding the assembly elections in the state along with Lok Sabha elections citing law and order situation. Election for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat in Kashmir was held in three phases for security reasons.