Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 7: National Conference working president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today that the NC doors for the BJP to form a coalition Government have been shut as the present BJP was not the party, which was run by Atal Bihari Vajpayee (former Prime Minister).
“Our doors are shut for the BJP. They are not shut now but they were shut year ago when the election results threw a hung Assembly,’’ Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function to declare open Maruti Suzuki Nagrota Premier League cricket tournament, an initiative of NC provincial president and MLA Devender Singh Rana.
Making it clear that his party was not ready to support BJP in case the PDP-BJP alliance ends, Omar said that PDP president Mehbooba Mufti must break her silence as she cannot keep the entire State guessing on the Government formation.
“PDP leader “Mehbooba Mufti has been quiet for long and she can no longer remain silent. She must clarify her stand on two-three issues and clear the air as to what are those CBMs and how long she will wait for those Confidence Building Measures and why did the need of CBMs suddenly arose after the demise of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed,” he said.
He said that although an elected Government is not in place, the alliance between PDP and BJP is still intact.
“As far as our knowledge is concerned, the alliance (between BJP and PDP) still exists. We haven’t heard either from BJP or PDP that alliance has been broken, so the alliance exists and if the alliance exists, then why not the Government is being formed’’?, he asked.
“Agenda of the alliance was formed and Mufti sahab was made the Chief Minister. What has changed in the past 10 months that today even though they have numbers in the Assembly they are not ready to form the Government?”, he asked.
Omar said that National Conference has been telling them time and again that if they are not ready to form the Government, they should be bold enough to break the alliance.
“We will go back to the people, but I am unable to understand the way of their leadership. They ask for Confidence Building Measures, but I am not sure that within the party people know or not, but outside nobody knows what they have asked for,” he said.
He said that even BJP was not aware of what PDP was asking for.
“Even as BJP has said that please clearly tell us what you are asking for, so we too would want to know what are the CBMs which Mehbooba Mufti is asking for and did they keep a timeframe, a deadline,” Omar said.
Omar said, “Even if Mehbooba has demanded some CBMs then she should tell the people that what are the CBMs and should also fix a timeframe as the State is not going to wait for them forever.
“They should have a timeframe and say if in so many days we don’t get a reply, then this alliance is finished and we will go to the people.”
Asked whether his party would support BJP if the latter approaches it for Government formation, the NC leader said that his doors for BJP were closed a year ago and they remain closed even today.
“Earlier also BJP had explored those options. I have time and again said that National Conference as of today is not willing to form any relationship with them (BJP). I am not even ready to discuss this issue. We closed the doors for BJP a year ago and the doors continue to be closed even today”, Omar said.
On his party’s alliance with BJP when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, Omar said that BJP has changed over the years.
“That alliance did not convert into an alliance for the State as that was restricted to the Centre only and there is a huge difference between BJP of Vajpayee and that of today,” the NC working president, who heads 15 MLAs in the Assembly, said.
Omar said that his party was ready to go to the people as it always wanted BJP to be kept out of Government in Jammu and Kashmir and that was the reason that his party had offered unconditional support to PDP after the Assembly polls.
“We are ready to go to the people. We had made an offer a year ago that if Mufti sahab wanted to be the Chief Minister, National Conference was ready to offer unconditional support as we did not wanted to see BJP in the Government in the State and we knew that with the coming of BJP, the situation in the State will not improve and will worsen and that is evident from the past 10 months, be it in Jammu or in Kashmir,” he said.
“What could be the reason for the ongoing stalemate over Government formation and whether the PDP president is scared to lead the State?”, Omar asked.
“She is a leader and she has to lead and she cannot follow, even if she is not ready to lead the State as of today then with conviction she should announce but she is not even saying no and not yes and has kept the entire State guessing,” he said.
Questioning the PDP president over the timing for asking for the CBMs, Omar said why didn’t she ask for the same when her father was alive?
“See we waited for few days as we knew there was shock as she needed some time, but a month has passed, the people of this State cannot be made to wait for the decision of one person, that is why I said that if Mehbooba Mufti is talking about CBMs then she should clearly tell us, what are those CBMs and fix a timeframe and say that in a week or in 10 days they should be announced,” he said.
“It is a complex situation and only Mehbooba Mufti has the answer,” he remarked.
Omar alleged that PDP and BJP were scared of fresh polls in the State.
“They are scared. Neither BJP is ready to go to the people nor the PDP. From the day one I have maintained that if these two parties are not ready to come together, then they must tell the Governor and the Governor must dissolve the Assembly to pave the way for fresh Assembly elections,” he said.
He said that when Mufti Sayeed was alive, his daughter Mehbooba missed no occasion to defend her father’s decision of forming the alliance with BJP.
“When Mufti Sahab was alive, on two occasions in Delhi during two seminars and when Prime Minister came to Srinagar Mehbooba Mufti defended this alliance.
“For 10 months, she had said that Mufti Sahab has done a miracle by bringing North and South Poles together and the State would be benefited with this alliance, but all of a sudden after the demise of Mufti sahab how did she find the shortcomings in the alliance?”, he asked.
“The alliance remains the same, people remain the same, only Mufti Sahab is no longer there’’, he said, adding that his party knew that the alliance will not complete six years.
“The day BJP and PDP people came together we were aware that this Government will not last for six years but we did not know that God had fixed that much of time for Mufti sahab. From the day one we were ready for election,” he said.
He said that all the political appointees of the BJP-PDP Government must resign or the Governor should sack them.
“The Governor has appointed Advisors after a long wait and this means that he also feels that the Governor’s Rule will be prolonged. All the political appointees must resign, it is wrong for them to continue,” he said.
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