‘Will provide 25, 000 govt jobs this year’
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, May 6: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today put the defection claims in ruling National Conference (NC) to rest by terming them as baseless and said that nobody will leave his party to support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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Speaking to reporters after inaugurating a multi-purpose indoor sports complex at Government Degree College (GDC) Tangmarg in Baramulla district, Omar accused the PDP of spreading rumours and asserted that no NC legislator would leave the party.
“Do you think I would be attending these functions if some MLAs were preparing to leave? These are baseless reports. These are the same people who helped the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls. It is not that we are saying this; it was revealed by RTI. There is no such MLA in the National Conference who will leave the party to support the BJP,” he said.
Earlier, PDP MLA Waheed Para claimed on X that internal dissent was brewing within the NC, and that some of its MLAs were in contact with PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti.
In that post, Para had also questioned Abdullah’s silence on the J&K Government declaring Jamia Siraj-ul-Uloom, a seminary in Shopian, an unlawful entity under the UAPA.
Responding to the charge, the Chief Minister said, “I do not work according to what some other party says. When I have to say something, I say it. Neither my government nor I am silent. Wherever issues come up on which we have to talk, we talk either on behalf of the government or the party.” Responding to a question about the West Bengal election results and the row over SIR, Omar said, “So many voters were deleted from the voter list, and the court said they will hear the matter after the elections. What will the hearing now achieve?”
“Elections are over and those people did not get an opportunity to vote. If the BJP had to do it for winning, then be it, they have won now. We will have to see what impact it will have in the rest of the country,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of cabinet expansion, Omar said, “Why are you people so concerned about it? When we have to do it, we will do it.”
The Chief Minister said the tourist spots that continued to remain closed after last year’s Pahalgam attack would be reopened gradually.
“This was raised in the assembly as well. Many places have been reopened, some remain, and they will also be reopened gradually,” he said.
Earlier in his address at the GDC Tangmarg, Omar said that around 25,000 government jobs would be provided to youth this year.
“We aim to provide 20,000 to 25,000 government jobs this year. At the same time, we are enabling young entrepreneurs by facilitating easy access to loans without the need for guarantees, with the government acting as a guarantor,” he said.
The Chief Minister highlighted key initiatives undertaken by the government for youth empowerment, including free bus travel for women in government buses, large-scale government recruitment, and self-employment support through the Mission Yuva programme.
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