Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, June 15: All eyes are set on the no-confidence motion against Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azam Mattu to be brought on Tuesday.
According to the media reports since the day ousted deputy mayor Sheikh Imran has been released from detention, he has been lobbying hard to dislodge the incumbent Mayor from his office. Imran and BJP have reportedly joined hands to topple the Mayor.
However, on Monday Mattu called on Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir and sought his support to defeat the no-confidence motion against him. “I called on JKPCC President Jenab GA Mir Sahab at his residence this afternoon to discuss the current situation in SMC. The 22 Corporators of the @JKPC and the 17 Corporators of @INCIndia and some independents will abstain from the’ NO Confidence Motion’ tomorrow,” Mattu tweeted.
Soon after Mattu met Mir, the Congress issued a statement saying it has decided that its corporators shall not be part of voting process in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation. “The INC corporators shall not be part of voting process in the Corporation. The corporators have been issued whip and the same has been conveyed to concerned authorities in the Corporation,” the statement added.
It may be recalled that Sheikh Imran had succeeded in becoming the deputy mayor of SMC due to the support of the Congress party. However, he had later joined Mattu’s party, Peoples Conference, and prior to August 5, 2019, it seemed that both Mattu and Imran have buried the hatchet and are moving on smoothly. Imran was detained along with other mainstream leaders on August 5, 2019, when the Centre decided to revoke J&K’s special status and bifurcated it into two union territories. When Imran was under detention a no-confidence motion was brought against him and he was ousted from the office.
After his release from detention, Imran has cozied up with the Bharatiya Janata Party and has almost convinced the party to help him out to see Mattu out. Recently a senior BJP leader had written a letter to IGP Security to seek security cover for Imran. However, the BJP leader had clarified that seeking security cover doesn’t mean that “we want anyone to become the Mayor.”
An analyst while talking to Precious Kashmir said, “In absence of a Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, the SMC has become a hub of politics. It appears that politics in Kashmir has got confined to SMC only. The corporation which was meant to develop Srinagar city has become pollical nerve centre of Srinagar.”
No Confidence Motion: SMC turns nerve centre of politics; Mattu’s fate to be decided today
