Budgam: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday accused the entire opposition of joining forces against his party, National Conference (NC), which he said has stood firm on its promise to keep the BJP out of power.
Campaigning for the NC candidate in a roadshow in Budgam of central Kashmir, Abdullah said that his government has been “occasionally punished” for its anti-BJP stance.
In his address, Abdullah framed the November 11 bypoll as a contest against a unified opposition trying to defeat Agha Mehmood, the NC candidate.
Launching an attack on the PDP, he reminded the people of the 2014 Assembly election and its aftermath, when the PDP joined hands with the BJP.
“The party that came out here told you that to keep the BJP out, it is necessary to vote for the PDP. And what was the result after the election? The same people brought the BJP to power and started to destroy Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Abdullah said the NC in 2024 sought votes with a commitment to keep the BJP out and has stood by that pledge by not forming an alliance.
“This is the difference between the PDP and the National Conference,” he said. “They asked for votes against the BJP in 2014 and then shook hands with the same people. We asked for votes against the BJP in 2024 and still kept them out of the government.”
Abdullah said that his government’s “pre-poll promise to bring a resolution to seek the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in the first assembly session was fulfilled” when a copy of the resolution passed by the state assembly was handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Asked about the absence of his party’s Lok Sabha MP, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, who has represented this Shia-dominated seat thrice, Abdullah replied that his party had never forced anyone to campaign.
“Those who want to campaign do out of their own free will, and those who do not wish to will not. That is perfectly ok; I do not force anyone to campaign. But when we win, those who did not support us are not going to be part of our joy,” Abdullah said.
Mehdi has been at odds with the party in recent months and has publicly attacked the government’s functioning.
Abdullah also accused the PDP of supporting the BJP, in effect, by not fielding a candidate for the Nagrota bypoll.
“Elections are being held at two places — Budgam and Nagrota. Ask them (PDP) where their candidate is in Nagrota? If they really are against the BJP, then why don’t they have a candidate in Nagrota?
“Where is the PDP or Apni Party candidate in Nagrota? They left the field. Only NC and BJP candidates are there,” Abdullah said.
The chief minister, who had vacated the Budgam seat after winning from Ganderbal, and thus necessitated the bypoll in the constituency, said he never wanted to contest from two seats.
“I had told my colleagues that I would not contest in two seats, but this is not an appropriate time to present the reality. A day will come when everything will be shared with you,” he said.
The chief minister also talked about issues of local development, such as the creation of a new university at Budgam by 2025, as he had done earlier in Ganderbal.
He said discussions were on with the Board of Control for Cricket in India to build an international-level cricket ground and a new academy in the Budgam district.
He also addressed the controversy of electricity smart metres, a major political issue, with Abdullah defending the move by linking it directly to a key manifesto promise.
“We have promised the people of Jammu and Kashmir in our manifesto that where there is less than 200 units of electricity used, we will forgo the electricity bill and make it free,” he said.
“We cannot honour that promise if we don’t have the metres because consumption can’t be tracked without it,” he said, and asked people to install the electricity metre to avail the benefit.
