Former cabinet minister Abdul Gani Vakil joined the Peoples Conference on Thursday.
Vakil, who was an MLC and minister in Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Congress-PDP coalition government, is the fifth former legislator to join PC in the past two months.
Addressing a news conference, Vakil said he is joining hands with PC to fight the two dynasties who have “exploited” the people of J&K for decades.
“I have single-handedly and relentless voiced the issue of widespread corruption patronised by both NC and PDP governments for the last 43 years,” he said.
He said these dynasties can stoop to any level to grab power and to hold on to it.
“These parties are responsible for thousands of killings in the past seven decades,” he said.
Vakil said it “is ironic that Omar Abdullah and his father Farooq Abdullah have the gall to point a finger at others”.
“Omar Abdullah’s political birth is solely attributable to BJP and RSS. His political birth happened at RSS headquarters at Nagpur when he was included as a minister in the Vajpayee government,” he said, adding that NC expelled Saifuddin Soz from party for voting against the BJP in the parliament.
Vakil said Farooq Abdullah has not left any stone unturned to please BJP and RSS.
“Now Farooq Abdullah wants to lay the foundation stone of Ram Mandir. He hasn’t left one single platform or one single opportunity in his life to please the RSS. Farooq Abdullah was the first political leader from J&K who forged an alliance with the BJP,” he said.
Accusing Farooq Abdullah of double standards, Vakil said, “When he is in power he wants to carpet bomb Pakistan and Pakistan administered Kashmir and when out of power he wants Azaadi for Kashmir.”
“Today Dr Farooq Abdullah has the audacity and shamelessness to talk about ending anti-militancy operations. What about the operations that he authorised and scripted from 1996 to 2002 when thousands of innocent Kashmiris were mercilessly killed? Does he have no shame left? If anyone is the prime culprit for the murder and genocide of Kashmiris it is National Conference,” he said.
Welcoming Vakil into the party, Sajad Lone said Vakil is an experienced and mass leader and the “caravan of change” will benefit tremendously from his experience.
On the occasion, Imran Reza Ansari echoed similar views on Vakil’s entry into PC.
“He started his politics with Late Abdul Gani Lone and Late Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari and worked tirelessly and with a commitment for the people of the state,” he said.