Wait and watch, say Farooq Abdullah, Altaf Bukhari on appointment of Manoj Sinha as new LG of J&K

Srinagar, August 06 : All eyes are on Manoj Sinha who has been appointed new Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
Manoj Sinha, a senior BJP leader and former Union Minister, is the new Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir after Girish Chandra Murmu resigned Wednesday. The big change, which took place on the first anniversary of the centre’s move to scrap special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and turn it into two union territories.
Former chief minister Farooq Abdullah preferred to remain silent on the appointment of Sinha as new LG of Jammu and Kashmir.
“I don’t want to comment on his appointment. Allah knows best why he has been appointed. Let’s wait and watch,” Abdullah told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
Congress J&K Chief G A Mir said Centre has failed to make any development for the last one year in J&K.
“G C Murmu was replaced because he had differences with the chief secretary. Sinha is a new person and a new exercise done by the BJP. The BJP has already derailed the political process in J&K. We have gone economically, culturally and politically backwards,” Mir told news agency KINS.
“What has BJP done, they suspended the Assembly, divided state. Everything snatched from us should be returned with an honour,” he said.
On appointment of Sinha, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari said, “I don’t want to comment at right now. Let’s wait and see what will happen.”
Manoj Sinha, 61, has been a Lok Sabha MP and a member of the BJP’s top leadership panel, the national council. He was a Minister of State in the first term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Just a week ago, the Election Commission had taken exception to LG Murmu’s recent comments to the media on the timing of Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir. In a strongly-worded statement, the EC said all decisions on the conduct and timing of elections are its “sole remit”. In an interview to The Indian Express, Murmu had emphasised that President’s Rule in J&K cannot be in place indefinitely and that “elections would not be very far.”(KINS)