Accusing BJP of fooling the people of Jammu over the issue of AIIMS and the artificial lake project, Congress today demanded resignation of the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.
"He (Deputy Chief Minister) should resign on moral grounds," senior Congress leader Sham Lal Sharma told reporters here.
He accused the BJP of fooling the people of Jammu and that the "saffron party has surrendered" to its coalition partner PDP. "It is not only surrender, but the saffron party has fallen flat in front of PDP. The BJP which sold dreams to the people of Jammu before elections is now itself sold to PDP for the sake of power," Sharma said.
"First they (BJP) surrendered AIIMS to Kashmir and now they have shelved the artificial lake project on which around Rs 60 crore has already been spent," he said.
He said that the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh was not aware of the ground situation and terming the artificial lake project as "unviable" was a proof of his "ignorance" over the issue.
"If the decision has been taken to appease Pakistan who might have objected on the construction of the lake on Tawi, then it's really unfortunate and a probe must be held on this," he said.
Accusing BJP of breach of trust of the people of Jammu Sharma said BJP stands exposed in Jammu as the party has surrendered all the dreams and aspirations of the people of Jammu to appease the Kashmir-centric parties.
Sharma said his party would launch an agitation to make sure that the people of Jammu get back their rights. "We will fight till the last drop of our blood. We are not against the setting up of AIIMS in Kashmir, but we will fight until Jammu also gets AIIMS," he said.
Chief Minister Mufti Mohmmad Sayeed had yesterday hinted at shelving of the previous NC-Congress government's artificial lake project in Jammu, saying it is not "feasible".
"As far as the lake project is concerned, I will tell you, economically and technically,it is not feasible," he had said.
However, asserting that the artificial lake on river Tawi is a dream project of Jammu people, Nirmal Singh later said the Centre has assured its help in ironing out technical problems to complete the project.
