J K News Today
Jammu, December 9 ( JKNT)
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti lost her cool during the course of an important cabinet meeting here on Friday and left in a huff to the surprised and shocked ministers who were not expecting such an extreme step by her.
The problem arose when she put an item of making Kashmir Police Service ( KPS) cadre equivalent to all India cadre of police, Indian Police Service . She said that the KPS officers manning the positions of DIG and Inspector Generals or SSPs were working as hard, rather harder than the IPS officers, but despite that they were unequal in designations and salaries. “ Since they are fighting the odd situations all the time, they should be conferred with this position which should place them equal to our IPS officers.”
It was objected to by the BJP ministers, particularly by Deputy Chief Minister Nirml Singh. He said that the state cannot afford to tamper with cadre like this.
This led to a heated exchange of words between PDP and BJP ministers . There was a cacophony , which Chief Minister apparently felt was undermining of her position and authority as head of the government and also as home minister.
Watching the serial argument between the ministers, Mehboba Mufti virtually walked out of the cabinet meeting of her own government.
From the secretariat, she drove straight to her Residency Road official residence and went incommunicado.
The shocked team of ministers gathered at the secretariat office of Nirmal; Singh and thereafter went straight to Chief Minister’s residence to placate her. She was told by BJP ministers that their high command had told them not to endorse this proposal in the cabinet agenda, while they agreed that the KPS officers from them only.
