Mir Farhat
SRINAGAR, Mar 26: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that he has no desire to shift to the Centre to become a Minister in the UPA III if it comes to the power and accused the People’s Democratic Party of supporting BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi.
“I do not want to go to the Centre and be a Minister in the UPA III. I have to remain in the State and serve the people,” said Omar, while addressing his party workers during a convention in Budgam district this afternoon.
Omar was reacting to the media reports where his father and National Conference President, Dr Farooq Abdullah, had said that Omar could go to the Centre to work with Rahul Gandhi if he becomes the Prime Minister after the Parliamentary elections.
“As a party president, Farooq Sahib will decide who will go to the Centre. But, I will not go. I am ready to jump anywhere, but will not jump to Delhi,” said Omar, who is the working president of NC.
Omar lashed out at the principal Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for singing the paeans for Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
“PDP was covertly supporting Modi. Now, they are openly saying that Modi will resolve the Kashmir issue. They fielded a weak candidate for the Jammu-Udhampur Parliamentary seat so that he does not get votes and it benefits the BJP candidate,” he said.
“But, if people of the Jammu and Kashmir do not want that incidents like Gujarat 2002 occur, they should defeat such candidates,” the Chief Minister said.
Omar told his party workers that the forthcoming Parliament Elections are a semi-final match for them and the results will predict the outcome of the Assembly elections in November.
“Show me in this election that you vote for us because this election is a semi-final. If we win this election, we will win all Assembly seats in November,” he said, adding that his Government will do everything for the workers after the Model Code of Conduct ends.
While reacting to the Narendra Modi’s speech at Hiranagar today, Omar said that Modi is not aware of the ground situation in the State. “He flies to the State, so he is not aware about the development in Jammu and Kashmir. Let him come by ground and see what our Government has done for development,” said Omar while talking to reporters after the convention.
Omar said that Modi has a habit of twisting truth and he distorts facts and presents them in his own way.
Asked that Modi has slammed the family-run parties, Omar said he should check his own party first, and then talk about other parties.
“They have fielded Yashwant Sinha’s son in the elections. Let him clear his alliance parties from dynasty; Akali Dal in Punjab is a family party. So before Modi takes a dig at other family-run parties, he should look into his party and his alliances first,” said Omar.
Omar expressed his surprise at Modi for not talking about the abrogation of Article 370 in his rally. “Modi in his previous rally had talked about abrogation of Article 370. But, I am surprised that today in Hiranagar he did not talk about it,” he said.
Omar also reacted to Modi’s statement that the Jammu and Kashmir Government has failed to implement the Prevention of Corruption Act in the State. “I would like to ask Modi what he did in his own State of Gujarat. He was so opposed to the appointment of Lokayukta in Gujarat so much so that the Governor of the State had to appoint him. We have a strong Accountability Commission in the State. Therefore, it is against the fact that we don’t have any mechanism to prevention corruption in our State,” he said.
NC President and candidate for Srinagar-Budgam Parliament Constituency, Dr Farooq Abdullah, in his address to the workers also lashed out at the Narendra Modi.
Calling Modi “plague”, Farooq said the parliamentary elections are about saving the country from the plague. “Such a plague is coming that the whole country will be wrapped in a disaster. I fear that if Modi comes to power, he will burn whole Hindustan. Pray to God that he does not come to power. If the country is safe, we all are safe,” said Farooq, who is also the Minister for Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy in the UPA-2 Government.
Farooq also hit out at the media for “distorting” his statements about Omar shifting to Delhi to work under Rahul Gandhi if he becomes the Prime Minister. “I told the media that it is upto Omar to decide. But they distorted my statement. The media twists the statement like our Banihal Tunnel,” he said.
The NC President also felt that there is a wave which is against Modi. “As far as I am concerned, Modi will not become Prime Minister. I feel there is a wave against Modi. Media calculations that there is a Modi wave are not right. He is a dictator and he has shown door to his party senior. See, how he got rid of Jaswant Singh,” he said, adding Modi will be a disaster.
Farooq also said that nobody can abrogate Article 370 until he is alive. “One day I have to die, but until I am alive I will not allow anyone to touch the Article 370. We are oppressed; Muslims, Sikhs in the State are oppressed, and it is because of this Article that nobody can occupy us,” he said.
He called the PDP “traders”, saying they are ready to abrogate the Article 370 as they are supporting Modi.
Taking a dig at the PDP candidate, Tariq Hamid Qarra, Farooq said Qarra is a dishonest man who betrayed the National Conference. “He has grown in our home after his father told me that he was handing over his son to me. But, when he grew up, he betrayed us,” said Farooq, adding that people should not give mandate to such “betrayers”.
Other party activists present at the convention were State Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, MLA Aga Ruhullah, NC Provisional President Nasir Aslam Wani, Tanvir Sadiq, and MLC Ali Mohammad Dar among others.
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