(PTI)
Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, one of the architects of the PDP-BJP alliance in the state, was unceremoniously removed from the council of ministers by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti over his remarks that the Kashmir issue was not a political one, officials said. The chief minister, who returned from the national capital to Jammu, shot off a letter to the state Governor N N Vohra requesting him to drop Drabu from her council of ministers with immediate effect, PDP sources said. The Governor, after examining the letter, wrote back to the chief minister conveying his nod to her request to drop the 57-year-old Drabu from her council of ministers, officials said.
A BJP leader in New Delhi, however, termed Chief Minister Mufti’s decision to sack her finance minister as a “setback” to the alliance as it could widen the gap between the two parties. Drabu, he said, was often the bridge between the Jammu and Kashmir government and the Centre over a host of issues. “It is a setback to the alliance,” the BJP leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. He recalled that Drabu played an important role in the formulation of the GST.Haseeb Drabu, Mehbooba Mufti, Jammu and Kashmir, PDP leader, Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, j&k govt, j&k government, cabinet, Drabu.
