Srinagar, Sep 25 (IANS): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Friday that the worst opponents of restoration of statehood to J&K are the leaders of the BJP, and that the resolution was only about restoration of statehood, not special status or autonomy.
Speaking at a press conference here, CM Abdullah said, “All that we want is the restoration of full statehood to J&K. It is now almost two years since an elected government took office here. We have brought in the resolution today simply to remind the Centre that they must keep the promise they made to the people.”
The CM said a senior BJP leader, Shamlal Sharma, has asked us to give an account of our performance for the last two years.
“Let the BJP bring in a resolution on Monday asking for our performance. We are ready to give the account, and we will also highlight the hardships we faced during these two years. The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly is the worst opponent of the restoration of statehood. He has been doing everything to ensure that J&K does not get its statehood back,” he said.
“The resolution we brought in today in the House is only about the restoration of the statehood. It does not speak about autonomy or the special status of J&K. Those resolutions have already been passed and are the property of the House. In today’s resolution, we used the word ‘in addition’ only to avoid any confusion with the previous resolutions. It is solely about restoration of statehood,” the CM said.
“The BJP members created a ruckus and walked out of the House. They must come into the Assembly and vote in favour of the resolution if they want the statehood restored, or vote against the resolution if they don’t want the statehood restored. By walking out, they have completely exposed themselves before the people. They talk about our promises, and the restoration of statehood was a part of their election manifesto in the 2014 elections. They don’t want something restored because of what they got voted and have 29 MLAs in the House,” CM Abdullah said.
Asked about the BJP leaders saying that the National Conference (NC) government headed by Omar Abdullah will soon fall, the chief minister said, “Today’s resolution is neither for my party nor for any family. It is only for asking the Central government to restore the promised statehood to J&K. If the BJP is so sure about the fall of my government, they must bring in a motion in the Legislative Assembly and seek a vote against my government,” the CM asserted.
