Jul 07 2008
J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad resigns!
Failing to secure majority support in the 87-member state assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has resigned from his position on Monday.
Embarrassed Azad withdrew the confidence motion which was to be put to vote to prove his support in the house and announced his decision to resign at the end of his emotionally-charged one and a-half hour long speech on the confidence motion he moved this morning in the house.
“I am satisfied with my work. The motive I came with, I have largely achieved it. I don’t care who will be the chief minister. I don’t care whether the government survives or falls… I have shown the way,” Azad said in his speech which highlighted his government’s achievements during the last two- and-a-half years.
After the announcement Azad proceeded to Raj Bhavan to formally hand over his resignation letter to the governor N.N.Vohra.
The resignation comes as a surprise in view of Azad’s assertions over past week that he had the required majority in the house.
The one-day session of the state assembly had been convened on the instance of state governor N.N.Vohra who had asked Azad to prove his majority in the house, following withdrawal of support by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the key coalition partner on June 28.
PDP, led by former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, had on June 28 withdrawn support to the Azad-led government in the wake of massive protests in the Valley on the Amarnath land transfer issue.
