Won’t contest Assembly poll till statehood restored: Omar Abdullah

Srinagar, April 14

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has ruled out contesting the assembly elections till Jammu and Kashmir remains a Union territory. “I don’t fancy my chances for anything. I don’t aspire to the office of the Chief Minister. And I most certainly do not aspire to lead a Union Territory.

“I have made it abundantly clear that in the current situation that J-K finds itself in, I am not contesting assembly elections. I have said this all the way back from 2020 onwards and my position has not changed,” Abdullah said.

Asked about the rationale behind leaving the family bastion of Srinagar Lok Sabha seat to contest from Baramulla, Abdullah, who has been elected to Lok Sabha three times, said it was not his habit to take the easy road. “Why should I shy away from a fight? Yes, the political wisdom would suggest that I fight from Srinagar because God forbid a setback for me would be a setback for the entire party. But this is not the first time that someone from the family has fought from a seat other than Srinagar,” he said.

Abdullah said his fight in the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat was not against a particular candidate but against the “might of the central government and the BJP”.

“The biggest onslaught of Delhi that we are seeing is in north Kashmir. The maximum effort to cobble unnatural alliances is in north Kashmir. “If you remember last Friday, while coming out of Hazratbal, the leader of Apni Party Altaf Bukhari while referring to Sajad Lone, was a little insulting.

“He had called him ‘do eenton ki imarat’ (a building of two bricks). No sooner had he uttered those words, senior BJP leader Tarun Chugh came running to Srinagar, went straight to Altaf Bukhari’s residence, and summoned Sajad Lone there to patch up this alliance.

“So, I am not fighting against an individual. My fight in north Kashmir is against the BJP, it is against the support it is giving to people on the ground,” he said.

On the claims made by the BJP about development in Jammu and Kashmir post abrogation of Article 370, the former chief minister said by any measure of human development, J-K is far better than some of the so-called developed states of the country. “In terms of the quality of life, J&K ranks above even the states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. When was the last time that you heard that somebody in J-K starved to death,” he said.

Abdullah listed infrastructure projects like hospitals and universities started by the elected governments in Jammu and Kashmir. “It is all very well to say that we did nothing. I am citing to you the infrastructure that we created. What can they show me?,” he said. — PTI  

I don’t aspire for CM’s post

I don’t fancy my chances for anything. I don’t aspire to the office of the Chief Minister. And I most certainly do not aspire to lead a Union Territory. — Omar Abdullah, NC leader

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