SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said he does not have a “wish list” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will visit here later this week, but will only demand the State’s right.
“I do not have a wish list. I am not going to him with a wish list. Whatever is the right of the state, we should get that and we want to have that. He is coming here for two functions related to the Central Government and nothing more than that,” Omar told reporters here.
The Chief Minister said the State is not demanding more than what was its right.
“We should get our share of electricity. We should get help in funding by the Planning Commission. We should also get help for the loss we undertake by being at the frontier of the battle against militancy in the State. I am not asking for anything more than that,” he said.
Modi is scheduled to arrive in Kashmir on Friday on his first visit to the Valley as the Prime Minister. He will inaugurate the 240-MW Uri-II power project in Baramulla district.
Omar, who is also the working president of National Conference (NC), said his party has not yet taken a decision on entering a pre-poll alliance with Congress for the Assembly elections later this year.
“We have not decided whether to fight in an alliance or not. I have been reiterating it that in both the parties -– National Conference and Congress — there are many voices which are not in favour of an alliance, but both the parties have left the decision on their leaderships.
“NC working committee has passed a resolution and put the responsibility on its president Farooq Abdullah. He will decide whether it will be in favour of the party to have an alliance or not. For that, Farooq Sahib will consult his colleagues and decide. Same way, Congress will do,” he said.
On newspaper reports about NC’s decision to join hands with Congress for the Assembly polls, Omar said, “If I take as truth whatever comes in newspapers, this world would be (of) a different kind. I came to understand it soon that whatever I read in papers, very less of that is based on reality.”
To a question about “delay” in announcing mandates by the party, Omar said, “This is not a race. The race is for winning the elections.”
“If by announcing the mandates, elections would have been won, then I would have announced them six years back. It does not make a big difference. When we will be ready with the mandates, we will tell you,” he said.
The Chief Minister said he was “fully ready” for the elections in the State.
“My confidence was never low. I have taken blows sometimes, but those blows also make you more confident and I am fully ready for the forthcoming test,” he said. (AGENCIES)
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