Omar Abdullah chosen NC legislature party leader; will stake claim to form government at weekend

Meanwhile, in a significant gain for the NC, four independent candidates who won the recently held J&K Assembly elections have joined the NC raising its tally to 46 and with Congress’ six members and CPIM’s lone winner, the alliance has been strengthened further in numbers.

After the newly elected NC members met here, the party president Farooq Abdullah announced that its vice president was unanimously chosen as the Legislature Party chairman and that he will soon meet Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to stake the claim to form the government with the support of INDIA bloc partners.

“Omar will now get the letter of support from the Congress and meet Lt. Governor in a day or two to stake the claim on the government formation with all 49 legislators on board,” he said.

Emerging from the meeting, Junior Abdullah told reporters, “I have been elected as the leader of the Legislature Party. I express my gratitude to the MLAs. The talks are going on to get the letter of support from the Congress.” He confirmed that four independent MLAs have also extended their support to the NC and said, “Now the number of NC is 42 plus 4 independent MLAs. After receiving the letter from the Congress, we will go to the Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the government."

The Congress Legislature Party is meeting here on Friday to “discuss the important matters” and then hand over a letter of support to the chief minister-designate, the party sources said.

JKPCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra had rushed to Delhi on Wednesday for consultations with the party high command on the government formation and related issues. Probably, Omar Abdullah will meet the Lt. Governor at Raj Bhavan here at the weekend to stake the claim to form the government. J&K’s Chief Electoral Officer, Pandurang K. Pole, met Mr. Sinha along with Principal Secretary Election Commission of India, Pramod Kumar Sharma, and other officials earlier during the day on Thursday to submit the names of the members elected to the J&K Assembly in the three-phased elections.

Meanwhile, the NC on Thursday said that the party will stick to its promises including the restoration of Article 370 and the rights of people that were “snatched” on August 5, 2019. The party chief spokesman Tanvir Sadiq said, “The NC will fulfil all the promises made to the people in its election manifesto and public pledges during the electioneering. We will continue to talk on Article 370 to keep the issue alive. We will continue to fight for the return of all those rights which were snatched from us on August 5, 2019 and later,” he said.

Endorsing him, former MP and senior party leader Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi said that with the formation of the government, the NC will start delivering on all those promises that were made by its election manifesto. Both Mr. Sadiq and Mr. Masoodi too have been elected to the J&K assembly in the just concluded elections.

The NC vice president Mr. Abdullah had on Wednesday said that hoping for the restoration of Article 370 from the very people who “snatched” it would be “foolish”. He reiterated that the NC would keep the issue alive and continue to raise it. “Our political stand on abrogation of Article 370 will not change. We have never said that we will remain silent on Article 370 or that Article 370 is not an issue for us now,” he said.

However, in an interview with a TV channel, he also said, “We know that you are not going to get it back from the government that took it away. So set that aside for now” and that the immediate priority of the next NC-Congress government in the Union Territory would be the restoration of statehood. His statement praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling him “an honorable man” in the backdrop of his promise to restore the statehood of J&K was seen as a U-turn on Article 370 by the chief minister designated by his political opponents and criticized him for it.