Omar Abdullah blames PDP for axing of Article 370 , J&K’s UT status

BUDGAM: J&K CM Omar Abdullah Friday attacked the PDP, accusing it of betraying people’s trust in 2014 by joining hands with the BJP after the assembly polls to form the govt in the state.

He was addressing a gathering in Budgam, the assembly constituency going to vote in the bypoll on November 11. Omar had vacated the seat he won in last year’s assembly polls in the state along with his traditional seat of Ganderbal.

“This seat will have no impact on the NC government, but we cannot overlook its significance. This election can send out several important messages,” he said.

“A year ago, my colleagues and I asked you to vote for me so that we could keep the BJP out of power and form our own government. The people accepted that appeal and gave us their mandate, and we have remained steadfast in our principles, staying away from the BJP,” he said.

“Earlier, another party also sought votes on the same slogan,” Omar said. “In 2014 our rival PDP asked people to vote for them to keep the BJP out. And from Qazigund to Kupwara, people did so. But they betrayed that trust. The very next day, PDP joined hands with BJP and formed the govt.”

The CM blamed the PDP-BJP alliance of 2014-2015 for the political changes that followed in J&K, including the abrogation of Article 370 on Aug 5, 2019, and downgrading of J&K from a state to a union territory.

“What happened in 2019 and after was because of that alliance,” Omar said.

The CM said that had the NC, like PDP, formed a governmentt with BJP after last year’s elections, Jammu and Kashmir could have become a state. “But I was not ready to deceive my mandate,” he said.

Despite being a UT CM, Omar said, his govt has carried out developmental works in the region. “I vacated the Budgam seat because the law does not allow holding two constituencies. But I have continued to work for Budgam,” he said, announcing that Budgam would be developed as a model assembly constituency and that a university would be established here.

There are three main contestants in Budgam — NC’s Aga Syed Mehmood, PDP’s Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi, and BJP’s Aga Syed Mohsin. With NC MP Aga Ruhullah, a former MLA from Budgam, staying away from the party’s campaign and accusing the leadership of abandoning the struggle for the restoration of Article 370, the NC is pushing hard to win the seat to send a message to both the PDP and its own dissenting MP that it remains popular among the people.
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