Omar, Bukhari accuse each other of truck with BJP

NC came to power since 47 with Delhi’s blessings: AP chief

Fayaz Bukhari

Srinagar, Nov 15: Former Chief Minister and National Conference vice president, Omar Abdullah and Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari today targeted each other’s parties in two political rallies held in Baramulla district with Abdullah accusing Bukhari of having truck with Bhartiya Janta Party and latter accusing former’s party coming to power since 1947 with the blessings of New Delhi.
Junior Abdullah accused Bukhari of being part of the ruling BJP. “I do talk against this Government in Jammu and Kashmir and against LG whenever there is anything wrong, but Altaf Bukhari can’t talk against the BJP which he is part of,” he said.
The NC leader said that he failed to understand that when he, despite being a former Chief Minister, and other top politicians were spending days and nights in detention in 2019, how come Altaf Bukhari was enjoying freedom. “Please tell us this secret, how and why you were free?” he asked.
While reacting to the assertions of Bukhari about the Tangmarg episode in 2010, Omar said that Bukhari should explain who put Tangmarg on fire then.
“Conspiracy against a Chief Minister in Jammu and Kashmir is not new and it started way back in 1953. Let us talk about 1984 also,” he said, adding that only MPs meeting was held in Tangmarg in 2010 to apprise them about the ground reality.
Abdullah said he doesn’t compromise. “Wrong is wrong and I speak up against the wrongdoings. Despite being a part of the INDIA Alliance I talked about the wrong decision of the Congress Government in Karnataka about the ‘headgear’ issue,” he said.
Bukhari in another rally held in Baramulla district accused the NC of coming to power in Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 with the blessings of New Delhi.
“Right from 1947 whenever NC came to power it was with the help of New Delhi. NC has never come to power on its own. Did people of J&K vote for it in 1947? I think they only won on their own in 1983 but couldn’t run the Government then. They thought the then NC MLAs were their domestic helps. In 1987, they formed the Government with the blessings of Rajiv Gandhi. We are still suffering because of that election, 2 lakh people have got killed as a consequence of that election,” he said.
The Apni Party chief accused NC of being hand in glove with the saffron party. “Omar said that the BJP has formed a new party here. What are you saying, you are hand in glove with the party you are talking about. When it comes to accusations, you level it against others,” he said.
Bukhari said NC has never raised the issues of common people with Centre but accused them of blackmailing it for personal gains.
“That autonomy resolution. You couldn’t pass it. You had no self-respect to leave the Government because your intentions were not good and you never wanted to negotiate autonomy with the Centre. If you would have negotiated autonomy you would have negotiated your Government. You never raised the voice of people with New Delhi but blackmailed it for personal gains,” he said.
Bukhari accused NC of failing to safeguard Article 370 and 35A that was scrapped by the BJP led Government in 2019.
“What did you do when BJP scrapped Article 370? In 2019 only, I also supported NC as they secured votes for safeguarding Article’s 370 and 35A. What did you do for it? The colour of their flag is red as they have shed much blood of Kashmiris,” he said.