Omar Abdullah calls for dissolution of J&K assembly, demands fresh elections in state
Politics

Omar Abdullah calls for dissolution of J&K assembly, demands fresh elections in state

Abdullah tweets that even senior BJP leader admits that the party cannot be trusted not to 'horsetrade for government formation.'

   
File image of National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah

File image of National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah | @JKNC_/ Twitter

Abdullah tweets that even senior BJP leader admits that the party cannot be trusted not to ‘horsetrade for government formation.’

Srinagar: National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah today called for immediate dissolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and holding of fresh elections in the state.

In a surprise move, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday pulled out of the three-year-old ruling coalition with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. The state Jammu & Kashmir is under Governor’s rule from Wednesday morning.

“The J&K state assembly should be dissolved immediately & fresh elections should take place as soon as appropriate. The former DCM has admitted that BJP can’t be trusted not to horsetrade for government formation” Omar tweeted.

The former chief minister was reacting to BJP leader and former deputy chief minister (DCM) Kavinder Gupta’s reported statement that his party was “working on something”.

“I don’t think a new government will be formed anytime soon. Uncertainties are there, but we are working on something and people will get to know about it,” Gupta had reportedly said.

The NC leader claimed that Gupta’s statement hinted at the BJP’s attempts to break other parties to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir.

“What do you mean ‘we are working on something’? The only ‘something’ would be to break other parties & make up the numbers to form a BJP Govt. Has the former DCM inadvertently spilled the beans?” Omar asked on Twitter.

On a news report about Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh not being kept in the loop about the BJP’s decision to pull out of the government, Omar tweeted, “If this story is true & @HMOIndia didn’t know about the impending demise of the BJP-PDP alliance, then the fact that it caught me & my colleagues by surprise is really no big deal.”

The Anantnag bypoll was delayed by a year and panchayat polls have been deferred due to the hostile situation in the Valley. ThePrint  had earlier reported that given these situations, elections are an unlikely affair anytime soon. —PTI