Jammu (PTI): The Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Thursday strongly condemned the murderous attack on former chief minister Farooq Abdullah in Jammu and said “those entrusted with maintaining law and order must be held accountable”.

Abdullah had a narrow escape when a gunman allegedly opened fire at him from behind while he was leaving a marriage function at Greater Kailash on the outskirts of Jammu on Wednesday night.

Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and advisor to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Nasir Aslam Wani, were also accompanying Abdullah when the incident occurred.

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The accused, identified as 63-year-old Kamal Singh Jamwal, a resident of Purani Mandi in Jammu, was arrested and told police that he had been waiting for an opportunity to target Abdullah for the past 20 years.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress Committee president Tariq Hamid Karra termed the incident shocking and said it raised serious concerns about the prevailing security situation in the region.

“Strongly condemn the shocking firing incident on former CM Farooq Abdullah and other senior leaders …Such acts of violence are deeply disturbing and raise serious concerns about the prevailing security scenario in the region,” Karra said in a post on X.

He said the increasing criminalisation and lawlessness cannot be ignored.

“Those entrusted with maintaining law and order must be held accountable. The people deserve safety, stability, and a secure environment, and it is the responsibility of the administration to ensure that such incidents are not repeated,” he said.

All India Congress general secretary and Congress Legislative Party leader Ghulam Ahmed Mir also condemned the incident, describing such occurrences at public places as unfortunate.

“Such incidents are unfortunate. The security setup should investigate how this happened. The matter needs to be addressed,” Mir said.

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Patna (PTI): Launching a frontal attack on the Bihar government, RJD's national working president, Tejashwi Yadav, on Thursday, alleged that the state has "failed" on all parameters during the 21 years of NDA rule.

His remarks came four days ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar on March 16. Six candidates—five from the ruling NDA and one from the RJD are in the fray for five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar.

In a post on X on Thursday, Yadav wrote, "The NDA government failed on all parameters despite years of a double-engine government. Bihar continues to rank at the bottom of most development indicators even after 21 years of NDA rule."

"Bihar is a unique state where the NDA's double-engine government has been in power for decades, yet the state still performs poorly across several socio-economic indicators. Bihar is the poorest state in the country, has the highest migration, the highest levels of crime and corruption, the highest unemployment, the highest level of multidimensional poverty and highest school dropout rate in the country, lowest literacy rate in the country, and the state has the lowest per capita income in the country," he wrote.

He further claimed that Bihar is the state where farmers' income is lowest in the country, lowest per capita consumption in the country, lowest computer literacy in the country, lowest electricity consumption in the country, lowest basic infrastructure in the country, lowest quality education in the country and the lowest industrial units in the country.

Yadav, who is also Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, said the state is lagging in almost every development indicator. He accused the government of avoiding accountability while running the administration through bureaucratic control, state resources and caste politics.

Ironically, despite being lowest on all development parameters, Bihar is leading in buying expensive gas, leading in buying expensive electricity, leading in buying expensive petrol-diesel, and here buying property is more expensive than in Delhi and Mumbai, he alleged.

State BJP spokesperson, Neeraj Kumar, refuted the charges levelled by Yadav and told PTI, "RJD leader should have compared the current situation in Bihar with the period between 1990 and 2005 when the state was governed by Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. The condition improved only after the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar came to power in 2005."