“BJP obstructing governance in J&K”
Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 8: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that his party legislators are firmly with the National Conference (NC) and accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of hoping for Eknath Shinde’s type of split in his party.
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Omar’s remarks came after comments by the senior BJP leader and leader of opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Sunil Sharma, that the saffron party’s next target is J&K and suggested that, similar to Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, legislators from Omar Abdullah’s party might also defect.
The Chief Minister said that this signals the BJP’s intentions toward the NC Government. He alleged that the BJP had engineered Shinde’s rise in Maharashtra and was hoping for a similar split in J&K. “This is how you get to know about BJP’s intentions. Aya Ram, Gaya Ram. Eknath Shinde left because BJP helped him to get him out,” he said.
Omar said opposition leaders were impatient to hold the chair of J&K’s Chief Minister. “There is no Eknath Shinde in the NC,” he said, adding that party legislators were “firmly with the NC.”
The Chief Minister accused the BJP of obstructing governance in J&K and claimed that people of J&K are being threatened in the name of statehood.
“Till BJP does not get a government, they will not let us work properly and they will not make J&K a state,” he said.
Omar rejected suggestions that the expansion of his Cabinet had stalled because of political instability or fear of defections.
“Cabinet’s expansion has stopped because we were not given the status of a state. Cabinet’s expansion has not stopped because of fear,” he said.
The Chief Minister criticized the delimitation exercise carried out in J&K, alleging it was designed to politically benefit the BJP. “We have suffered their delimitation. It was done only to benefit the friends of BJP and BJP,” he said.
On the political situation in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Minister cited Supreme Court judgments to argue that the Governor should first invite the single-largest party to form a government and prove its majority on the assembly floor. “If we go to the judgment of Supreme Court, then there should be no President’s rule,” he said.
Omar referred to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 13-day government in 1996, saying the President at the time had invited Vajpayee to form the Government without waiting for proof of majority support. “At that time, the President of India called him, the 13-day government came and when Vajpayee did not have his number, he resigned,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that constitutional authorities should allow the claimant to form a Government and test majority support in the assembly. “If he proves his majority in the assembly, then he will remain. If he does not prove, then he will have to resign,” he said.
On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and whether it could affect J&K, Omar said it was too early to speculate. “Right now, it has only happened in Bengal,” he said.
“The assembly elections in J&K are not due until 2029. First, let’s see what impact it will have on the rest of the country,” he said.
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