NC's Abdul Rahim Rather elected J-K Assembly Speaker

Srinagar: Veteran National Conference leader and seven-time MLA from Charar-e-Sharief Abdul Rahim Rather was on Monday elected the first speaker of the legislative assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Leader of the House and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Rather (80) was a "natural choice" for the post due to his vast experience. He said Rather has earlier raised the dignity of the House in various capacities, and as the custodian of the House now, "we expect you to do justice with all members".

Rather was elected the speaker with a voice vote after the opposition parties decided against contesting for the post. Protem Speaker Mubarak Gul conducted the election.

Minister for Agriculture Javed Ahmad Dar moved a motion to name Rather for the post of speaker, while NC's MLA Ramban Arjun Singh Raju seconded the motion on the first day of the five-day session.

After his election, Rather was escorted to the chair by the Leader of the House Abdullah and BJP's Sunil Sharma, the Leader of Opposition.

Rather had earlier held the post of the speaker in the legislative assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. He was also the leader of the opposition from 2002 to 2008 when the PDP-Congress coalition government ruled the state.

The House met after a gap of more than six years, with the last session held in early 2018, a year before the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

In his address after the speaker election, Abdullah congratulated Rather on behalf of the entire House.

"You were a natural choice for this post of the House. That is why there was not a single voice against your nomination for the post. Everyone is aware of your experience. You have been a member of this House with every chief minister except for the tenure of Mehbooba Mufti," the NC leader said.

"We hope you will give support and help to the opposition members as well so that this House functions smoothly. We will extend full support to you in the functioning of this House," Abdullah added.

Leader of Opposition Sharma also congratulated Rather on assuming the chair of the speaker.

"First of all, I want to extend my best wishes on behalf of opposition benches. After a long time, the assembly has been constituted again. It is our good fortune that people have sent their representatives to this House and it has elected you as the custodian," the BJP leader said.

He said the members of the House have high hopes from the Chair.

"We are hopeful that you will use your vast experience to run this House. You have spent a long time in the House, having sat both in the treasury and the opposition benches. So, we expect that you will do justice," Sharma said.

The Leader of Opposition added that members of the House would raise the issues of the people and expressed hope that the speaker would be neutral in his dealings.

"We are taught discipline in the party (BJP) that we come from. I am assuring you that we will follow discipline, but, it should in no way be treated as our weakness," he added.

Congress MLA Ghulam Ahmad Mir while congratulating Rather said he was a natural choice as no one in the House has experience that matched his.

"You are an asset of the state who has not only guided the state, but helped the nation as finance minister when you were the chairman of the GST committee," Mir said.

M Y Tarigami, CPI(M) MLA from Kulgam, said the members of the House have not got the people's mandate only to fight with each other, they have to find solutions as well.

"Jammu and Kashmir is caught in a whirlpool. We have to find a way out," he said.

Peoples' Conference MLA Sajad Lone pointed out that when the House had met the last time, J-K was a state but now it is a union territory.

While he said he did not want to say something bitter, he criticised the council of ministers for not consulting the MLAs while on tour to their constituencies.

"Our young ministers are running party through the government. If a minister is going on a tour, why are MLAs not taken along? The power to achieving statehood is by showing respect to this House," he said.

Stringent security measures were put in place for the assembly session.