Hyderabad/Srinagar, Apr 01: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hit out at National Conference leader Omar Abdullah over his statement seeking a separate Prime Minister for Jammu and Kashmir and asked the Congress and Mahagatbandhan leaders to make clear their stand.
Addressing an election rally here, Modi said there were media reports that Abdullah has stated there should be a separate Prime Minister for Kashmir.
“Two Prime Ministers for Hindustan? Do you agree with it? Congress has to answer and all the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ partners have to answer. What are the reasons and how dare he say that”, he said.
Modi said he also wants to ask Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar whether they agreed with Omar Abdullah’s statement.
“I want to ask Bengal Didi who shouts a lot, do you agree with it? Answer the people. U-turn (Chandrababu) Babu with whom Farooq Abdullah campaigned recently in Andhra Pradesh. Do you think Naidu should get votes? NCP’s Sharad Pawar and former Prime Minister H D Devegowda, whose son is Karnataka CM, should also answer. Would you like to go with them (Mahagathbandhan) or break away from them?” Modi said.
Meanwhile, reacting to PM’s speech, Omar Abdullah on Monday said he was humbled by the attention paid by Narendra Modi to his speeches after the prime minister hit out at the Congress over his remarks advocating a separate “Sadar-e-Riyasat” (president) and PM for Jammu and Kashmir.
“I’m humbled by the attention PM Modi pays to my speeches & very grateful to the social media cell of the BJP for highlighting my speech today, especially by WhatsApp’ing it to journalists. Your reach is far greater than mine,” Abdullah wrote on Twitter.
He was reacting to Modi’s remarks made during a speech in Hyderabad, in which he cornered the Congress and the grand alliance parties demanding to know if they supported the NC leader’s pitch for a separate prime minister for Jammu and Kashmir.
In a series of tweets after the prime minister’s attack, Abdullah said the NC had “always stood for the restoration of the terms of accession which Maharaja Hari Singh negotiated for J&K in 1947 & we have done so unashamedly”.
“What takes me to the cleaners? I don’t need other parties to support our stand. @JKNC_ has always stood for the restoration of the original terms of accession so there is NOTHING new in this. You guys must be really desperate when the Hon PM makes this an election issue,” he said.
“Most grateful to Hon (honourable) PM Modi Sahib for taking my humble speech & giving it a nation platform. @JKNC_ has always stood for the original terms of accession & will continue to fight for those. For the record we don’t need other parties to endorse our position,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said in another tweet.
He also told the Congress and other opposition parties not to hesitate to distance themselves from his speech.
“Dear friends in the Congress & other opposition parties. Please don’t hesitate to distance yourselves from my speech of today. In fact call Modi ji’s bluff by doing exactly that,” the NC leader said.
