Omar Abdullah Accuses BJP Of Depriving Jammu And Kashmir People Of Elected Government

Budgam: Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah accused BJP of depriving the people of Jammu and Kashmir of the elected government for the last several years. A delegation of Opposition leaders from Jammu and Kashmir led by Lok Sabha member Farooq Abdullah met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar today and demanded holding early assembly polls in the Union Territory. A delegation of leaders from the National Conference (NC), Congress, CPI (M), Dogra Sabha, Panther's Party, PDP and Awami National Conference met the CED in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum demanding early polls. In the memorandum, the leaders said the EC is under the Constitutional obligation to hold assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
 
On the other hand, Omar Abdullah spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a party convention at the Aarigam Khansahab area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district. Omar further said that the last time elections were conducted in J&K was in the year 2014 and since then no assembly polls were held here. 

When asked why they are always meeting the opposition leaders and not the government, Omar Abdullah said there is no fun in meeting the government as it doesn’t budge and doesn’t listen to them. “We have stopped meeting the government as it is a futile exercise...There is nothing wrong in meeting the Election Commission which is responsible for holding elections across India. The delegation wants to know what wrong Jammu Kashmir that people did here are being deprived of having their own elected government,” he said.
   
Omar Abdullah said except for the Opposition there is nobody in Jammu and Kashmir while the government dictates the terms and doesn’t take people or political leaders on board. “Government only knows how to harass people. When we tried to meet the government, it didn’t oblige.”  

Omer Abdullah also demanded the release of all political prisoners including former legislature Engineer Rashid. In response to a question, Omar Abdullah said that not only Engineer Rashid, but all those Kashmiris incarcerated in different jails should be released. He said Public Safety Act should go once and for all from the Jammu and Kashmir as the law is being misused to detain people illegally.

We are not betraying anyone; what we say we do. There are some people who help BJP behind closed doors, and we are and always said that we are against BJP and want to keep them away and we will always work for that.
 
Regarding the deferment of examinations by JKSSB after a row over the APTECH job recruiting agency, Omar Abdullah said it was better late than never. However, he demanded a thorough probe and said there is something fishy and people wanted to know why a blacklisted agency got the contract for holding examinations for Job recruitment in Jammu and Kashmir.