Excelsior Correspondent/ PTI
NEW DELHI, Jan 17: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said perception about his State needs to be changed as there has been a constant decline in infiltration as well as violence.
“Year after year, there has been a decline in infiltration and violence. There are some areas of concern like death of security forces. We are looking into it and addressing it. But the fact remains that violence and infiltration has come down,” Omar told reporters after meeting Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
“The perception about Jammu and Kashmir needs to be changed,” he said.
A State Government official spokesperson later said the Chief Minister met the Union Home Minister and discussed various matters relating to security and development of the State.
“Matters pertaining to prevailing law and order scenario, general situation in the State and the coordination between various security agencies in their functioning were also discussed in detail in the meeting,” he said.
The two leaders also reviewed preparatory arrangements by the State Government and the logistics it requires from the Centre for smooth and peaceful conduct of ensuing parliamentary elections in the State.
Meanwhile, suggesting an offensive policy for UPA, Omar defended Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s blistering attack on BJP and said the Centre has been “defensive for too long”.
Emerging from his 30-minute meeting with Shinde here, Omar said Rahul’s speech was timely and added that the UPA should shun the approach of being on the backfoot.
“He was very combative (and) that is required for UPA. We have been defensive for too long. There were mistakes but there are more positives than negatives. Why should we be on the backfoot,” Omar told reporters.
“We have made mistakes along the way…Ten years but that is a learning curve in power,” he said.
To a question about the prospects of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Rahul, Omar said “come on, you cannot compare an orange with an apple. What Rahul said today and said with tone and tenor, it was needed. He was combative and that was needed.”
He said Rahul is going to head the UPA campaign. “We are hopeful that UPA will get maximum seats in elections. Naturally, MPs will elect him and he will become the Prime Minister.”
He also said Congress had no culture of declaring Prime Ministerial candidate before polls but since Rahul is going to lead the campaign, so naturally he should be the Prime Minister.
“Besides this, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has declared he won’t be Prime Minister again,” he said.
Asked about the opinion polls suggesting the rout of UPA in 2014 general elections, he said “elections are not decided by surveys. Voters decide elections. So wait for the day when results are out.”
Earlier, Omar criticized senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for “mocking” at the “humble” background of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying such remarks would not help the UPA’s campaign.
“Modi has a lot of negatives but his humble origins are a positive some of us can’t claim. We aren’t helping our campaign by mocking him,” Omar wrote on micro-blogging website Twitter in an apparent reference to the Congress leader’s remarks.
At the ongoing AICC meet in New Delhi today, Aiyar mocked Modi’s Prime Ministerial ambitions and said a place will be identified for the Gujarat Chief Minister to distribute tea.
“I promise you in 21st Century Narendra Modi will never become the Prime Minister of the country. …But if he wants to distribute tea here, we will find a place for him,” Aiyar had said.
“There is a difference between an activist and a Chief Minister”, was a word of advice for Arvind Kejriwal from Omar over the threat of the former to stage a sit-n protest if action was not taken against Delhi Police officials.
He said sit-in was not solution to problems. “Working together with the central Government will solve the problems of Delhi,” Omar said.
“See, there is a difference between an activist or an Opposition leader and the Chief Minister,” he said when asked about threat from Kejriwal to stage a sit-in if action was not taken against Delhi Police officials. He said people should give time to the Delhi Chief Minister as he had just taken charge.
Asked to comment on Aam Aadmi Party’s national impact, he said “let us see how they navigate their way in future. “So far, AAP has a blemish imaged that they require to work on,” he said.
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