JAMMU, July 30: There was massive uproar in the Assurance Committee meeting in the Legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar this afternoon with controversial Doda MLA Mehraj Malik (Aam Aadmi Party) shouting loudly and passing serious remarks against the BJP as well as National Conference on the issue of mining prompting BJP Members—Chander Prakash Ganga and Devender Manyal, both former Ministers, to threaten to opt out of the Panel if Mehraj is not removed.
The Assurance Committee meeting was chaired by National Conference veteran and former Minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar.
Sources told that trouble erupted when the issue of mining was taken up. Mehraj was on his feet and started shouting loudly targeting mostly the BJP members but also hitting out at National Conference occasionally charging them with encouraging illegal mining. As he kept on shouting towards the BJP MLAs, both Ganga and Manyal, who are BJP members in the Assurance Committee, countered him.
“Mehraj has no control over his language. He was speaking whatever he wanted without caring that it was the Assurance Committee meeting. Even he hurled abuses at the BJP and its leadership and charged that both BJP and NC are hand-in-glove,’’ Ganga later told the Excelsior when approached for comments.
Ali Mohammad Sagar, chairman of the Committee and Mehraj Malik, however, didn’t respond to repeated telephonic calls to give their version. NC MLA Ghulam Mohiuddin Mir, who reportedly intervened in the meeting and asked Mehraj to behave, said the issue was settled.
“At one-time, a clash like situation emerged between the BJP members and the AAP MLA and some objects were also picked up but it was controlled with intervention of other members,’’ the sources said.
Ganga said they have briefed the Committee chairperson and will also be giving him in writing that they will not be part of the Assurance Committee if Mehraj Malik continues as the member.
“We can’t participate in a meeting where the MLA doesn’t maintain discipline and keeps on shouting instead of giving his point,” he added.
After the meeting ended, the BJP MLAs again met Ali Mohammad Sagar, the Committee chairperson and briefed him about unparliamentary language used by Mehraj Malik against the BJP and some Government officers.
One of the NC members is reported to have taken a jibe at Mehraj Malik claiming that he cast his vote in favour of the BJP in Rajya Sabha elections and was now targeting the party in the meeting on the issue of mining.
Mehraj is also reported to have taken a dig at the ruling National Conference for being in-league with the BJP.
The Committee on Assurances examines the assurance given to the members in the Legislature by the Government and action taken on them, whether they have been fulfilled or not.
Mehraj, the lone AAP MLA in Jammu and Kashmir, who won Doda Lok Sabha seat in August-September 2024 Assembly elections, was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) on September 8, 2025 and remained in District Jail Kathua before his detention was quashed by Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on April 27, 2026.
There have been some occasions in the Legislative Assembly when Mehraj had heated exchanges with the BJP MLAs. In 2025 budget session of the Legislature, scuffle broke out between Malik and few BJP legislators in lobby of the House.
