Srinagar: National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Monday ruled out the possibility of him contesting the forthcoming elections to the Jammu and Kashmir assembly but said he would be leading his party’s campaign for the polls.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister also said he will not humiliate himself by entering the legislature of a Union Territory (UT).
On his defeat in the Lok Sabha election to jailed contestant Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid in Baramulla, Abdullah said in electoral politics, one has to be ready for a loss as well.
“If you set aside the fact that I lost, on the whole I think the NC has a lot to be satisfied for… as far as my own seat is concerned, how can I be anything but disappointed. But that is electoral politics for you. If you are not prepared to lose, you should not file your papers. I cannot say the result was on expected lines. But it is what it is,” he told PTI in an interview.
The NC leader said he will lead his party’s campaign for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
“No. I am not contesting the assembly elections. I will not fight a UT election. I am absolutely clear on that. I will help my party, I will lead the campaign, I will do whatever I have to for the NC. But I will not enter an assembly of the UT of J&K,” he said.
“I will fight for our statehood to be restored to us. I will fight for a full state of J&K with no dilution. Then, if possible, I will seek an opportunity to enter the assembly and play my part there. But, I will not humiliate myself by entering a UT (assembly),” the NC vice-president said.
In 2019, the Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state in Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Asked if he was hopeful for early restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir as the BJP did not get a majority on its own in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, Abdullah said the prime minister and the home minister of the country have made a commitment to this effect both inside and outside Parliament.
“I would like to believe that the commitments of the prime minister and the home minister mean something. They have committed to statehood both inside as well as outside Parliament. Unless, they want the whole world to question their credibility, I am sure they will fulfill what they have said,” the NC leader said
On the conduct of the assembly elections, Abdullah said he would not have been so hopeful had the Supreme Court not directed that the polls be held by September 30.
“I would not have been as hopeful of assembly elections and statehood even if the BJP was not reduced to a minority government or the coalition government at the Centre. The elections are happening not because the BJP wants the elections, but because the Supreme Court has ordered them,” he said.
In the general elections, the BJP on its own won 240 seats and formed the government along with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners.
Abdullah said while he was satisfied with the NC’s performance in the Lok Sabha polls, it was hard for him not to take the loss in Baramulla personally.
“The biggest challenge for us right now as a party is to get a bit of morale back. The truth is that this election loss has hit us all hard, some harder than others. It is difficult for me not to take this loss personally. But it is what it is. The NC did really well, I want my party cadre to realise that we may have lost one Parliament seat, but as a party, we did a phenomenal job against the tsunami in north Kashmir, nobody could have done better,” he said.
“So, I think we need to focus on the positives. The positive is that we are by far the single largest party in J&K, we have the largest vote share and we will carry this momentum to the assembly. Now, the unknown factors will be what Engineer Rashid will do, how that will translate on the ground. It is alright, we will see,” he said.
Abdullah dismissed the suggestion that the outcome of the polls in Kashmir was personality-driven than party agenda-driven, saying nobody wins a parliamentary election on their personality.
“You win it because of the organisation. You win it because of the campaign that you run. I think Aga Ruhullah (NC winner from Srinagar Lok Sabha seat) and Mian Altaf Ahmad (NC winner from Anantnag-Rajouri seat) would be the first people to tell you that of course they were strong candidates, but they also had a strong party behind them,” he said.
Abdullah said they were able to get votes from the areas that they did not expect, and in numbers that they did not expect. “So, their personalities definitely helped us, how could they not, but, it is not just the personality,” he added.
