Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 31: Taking BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi head on, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today that he has many blots in his political career and was not fit for the top post. He added that it was the time for young leadership to take over reigns of the country and hoped that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi would fill the post.
Addressing public meetings at Kalakote and Nowshera, both National Conference held Assembly segments and inter-acting with party workers in Rajouri, where he had night halt during his four days election campaign in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, Omar, without naming Mr Modi, said: “those dreaming of occupying the Prime Minister’s post, have many blots in their political career, which the electorates know very well and wouldn’t forgive them and their party”.
Invoking young card, Omar, 44, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is also 44, would fill up the post of the Prime Minister after the general elections.
“I’m confident, it would be Rahul Gandhi and not Narendra Modi, who would become the next Prime Minister of the country,” he asserted and said it was time for young leadership to lead the country.
Campaigning for Congress candidate for Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency, Madan Lal Sharma, he reiterated his statement that Modi was a “mere hoax”.
Noting that the BJP’s own house is “not in order”, Omar said the new BJP leadership has made the senior leaders to weep.
“I have seen the senior BJP leaders like Jaswant Singh virtually weeping. There is no respect of the senior leaders in the BJP. How the leader of such a party can claim the post of the Prime Minister”? he asked and said: “person, who can’t respect his elders, who nursed the party, what he would do with the common man”.
Taking a dig at the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Omar Abdullah, who also happened to be working president of the National Conference, charged the opposition party with hobnobbing with the BJP saying they have deliberately fielded their candidate to split the votes of Congress to help the BJP on Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary seat.
“The PDP has been hobnobbing with Narendra Modi’s party at the national level also. Their candidate on Jammu-Poonch seat would forfeit his deposit. He was in the fray to help the BJP candidate by splitting votes of the Alliance candidate,” Omar said.
After the public rallies, Omar tweeted: “excellent public meeting in Kalakote today. Seeing the response, I have no doubt the PDP’s plan to split the vote and benefit BJP will fail”.
Pointing out that a vote given to the PDP would mean the vote to the BJP, the NC working president called upon the people not to get swayed by the sentiments and make the Congress candidate victorious.
Describing creation of new administrative units as a “historic decision” taken by National Conference-Congress coalition Government, Omar said the new units would soon be a reality.
“We have taken the decision to created 659 new administrative units and we would implement it,” he added.
Omar said the UPA Government has done a lot for Jammu and Kashmir during 10 years of their two terms in terms of liberal funding, development etc and it was now time for the people to give all six seats of Jammu and Kashmir to NC-Congress coalition.
“People in the State and elsewhere in the country uphold the high principles of pluralistic ethos, communal harmony and brotherhood and want young leadership to lead the country strengthening these principles and taking the country towards new heights of peace, development and modernization”, Omar said adding that the days are gone when people could be exploited in the name of religion, creed, caste and region.
He said that the people in the State and the country are emancipated enough to understand the designs of certain politicians aimed at dividing the society on various grounds including region, religion and caste for vote bank politics and vested interests of grabbing power.
Omar said that parties like BJP and PDP are thriving on the politics of ‘divide and rule’ and want to wedge apart various sections of the society for party politics and vote bank gains. He cautioned the people against this tactics and impressed upon them to vehemently reject the hate politics and nurture mutual brotherhood, amity and togetherness for which National Conference and Congress have always been torch bearers. He said both these parties have sacrificed all along to keep the secular and democratic traditions of the country and the State alive and strong.
Omar said the restoration of peace, construction of thousands of bridges, roads, schools, colleges, universities and other developmental schemes besides enactment of historic legislations to empower people and ensure transparency in all fields of administration by the coalition Government has been possible with the financial and logical support by the Congress led UPA Government in the country. He said this mission will get further fillip by returning to power the UPA-III in the Centre.
The election meetings were also attended by the NC provincial president Devender Singh Rana, Minister for Planning and Development, Ajay Sadhotra, R S Sharma, Rashpal Singh, Ravinder Sharma, all legislators, senior NC leader, Rattan Lal Gupta, former MLA Dr Ramesh Sharma and various other leaders of National Conference and Congress.
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