JK Finance Minister wants Opposition MLA to salute him for passage of special GST bill for state

Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu made two rather unusual requests to Speaker of the Assembly Kavinder Gupta on Friday.

He sought separate directions to two opposition MLAs— one to salute him from the Well of the House and other to resign as a legislator.

He claimed that National Conference (NC) MLA Devender Rana, while participating in the discussion on the GST resolution, had said he would salute him from the Well if the constitutional safeguards were included in the preamble of the presidential order on the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Jammu and Kashmir.

“A direction may be given that he (Rana) salutes me whenever the next session takes place as he is not present in the House today,” Drabu said, prompting everyone present, including mediapersons and those at the visitors’ gallery, to burst into laughter.

Referring to Congress legislator G M Saroori’s remark that if the safeguards were included in the presidential order on GST, he would put in his papers, the minister said a direction should now be issued to the opposition MLA asking him to resign as the condition set by him was fulfilled.

Suggested read: J&K assembly passes GST Bill amid protests by opposition, applicable from midnight today