NEW DELHI: While PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has been fiercely critical of the Narendra Modi government, her party MP Mir Mohammad Fayaz, who is about to retire from the Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday praised the Centre for bringing developmental schemes such as the Ujjwala scheme to J&K and also appreciated Union ministers for lending an ear to “issues concerning our state”.
In his farewell speech in Rajya Sabha, Fayaz referred to Ujjwala and other schemes in J&K, adding that good work must be acknowledged. “Whether it is Ujjwala or any other scheme, when I was the chairman of a committee, we were allotted only Rs 5 lakh in a year. Today, our people claim that they get Rs 5 crore from the government. Ujjwala has provided gas to our women, who earlier used to get firewood from the jungle,” he said.
The PDP MP praised late finance minister Arun Jaitley, commerce minister Piyush Goyal, former health minister JP Nadda, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh and recounted how they had extended support to Jammu and Kashmir whenever they were approached for help.
“Here Piyush Ji is there, Jaitley Sahab was here, Nadda Sahab was here, Jitendra Ji is there, Pradhan Ji is there. Whenever we went to them with issues concerning our state, they never said no to us. If there was any problem, it was because of people such as bureaucrats sitting in my state. From here, they haven’t said no to anything,” he shared with his fellow MPs.
Earlier, PM Modi had commended Fayaz for his passion for Jammu and Kashmir’s progress.
Later, Fayaz put out a tweet thanking PM Modi. “Thank you Hon’ble PM @narendramodi Ji for your kind words. As I mentioned in my farewell speech, my journey as a ward member to Rajya Sabha Member enlightened me with various intricacies of life. This is how life goes on. I pledge to continue my work for people’s good,” he tweeted.