Calls for voting NC to power again in Kargil
Excelsior Correspondent
KARGIL, Sept 30: National Conference vice president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today that his party will talk to Congress on seat sharing for Ladakh when Parliament elections approach.
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He was speaking to reporters here before addressing a massive rally for National Conference candidates for Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil here.
“In last Parliament elections also, we fielded an Independent candidate (in Ladakh) but lost. Now, National Conference and Congress are part of INDIA block. We will talk to Congress on seat sharing when Lok Sabha elections approach,” he said.
Omar said the people of Ladakh have no Legislative Assembly and Council and are confined to Council only. He added that previous Council headed by NC did a lot of development works in Kargil and the people should vote his party.
The LAHDC Kargil goes to polls on October 4 while counting will be held on October 8.
Omar said the BJP has lost its moral ground to stand before the people of Kargil post-bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
Addressing a rally here, he slammed the BJP for not giving representation to the Muslim community and making its MP Ramesh Bidhuri in charge of Tonk district in poll-bound Rajasthan instead of taking action against him for his “anti-Muslim speech” in Lok Sabha.
“They are showing their hatred towards Muslims openly. They need to answer questions before coming here asking for votes,” Omar said. “They have lost the moral ground to stand before the public.”
Expressing confidence about a landslide victory in the election, he said, “A vicious attempt was made to wipe off the National Conference from Ladakh and even claims were made by BJP MP (Jamyang Tsering Namgyal) that they have uprooted the party’s (NC’s) symbol (plough).”
“It is not so easy and cannot be done in haste as the people of Kargil have centuries-old family and blood relations with the people in Kashmir,” he said.
“We (the NC and the Congress) are fighting together to send a strong message to the people in the country that what happened on August 5, 2019, was undemocratic and based on injustice.
“With people’s support, we are going to win the polls and they (BJP) is panicking which is evident by the way they are using every means to keep our candidates away from the public. Even my security was taken away on reaching Zero point,” the NC vice president said.
Referring to the court battle over the restoration of his party’s symbol in the Kargil polls, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said that with time, people may forget MPs but the NC symbol will remain because it is in the hearts of the people.
Omar, who was accompanied by his two sons and other senior party colleagues, alleged that he had to leave his security at the Zero Point en route to Kargil on the directions of the authorities to address the public meeting.
He said this was his third visit to Kargil after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories – Ladakh and J-K.
“This is the first time that I had to leave my security at Zero Point. I do not have any grudge as I know they (BJP) are panicking. I know the people are with us and we have full faith in the Almighty.”
Omar said the people of Ladakh have lost much after getting the Union Territory status as they cannot have their own MLAs, MLCs, Ministers and Rajya Sabha members while “people from outside” are ruling them.
He said the National Conference pleaded before the Supreme Court against abrogation of Article 370 and “now we are waiting for its decision and praying daily that all which was taken away from us gets restored”.
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