Jehangir Malik
SRINAGAR: Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that getting back the statehood is one of the big challenges being faced by his government. He said that he will knock at the doors of the court once all the other options of getting back the statehood are exhausted.
Talking to journalists at a media interaction here today, Omar said that since the Supreme Court has directed for the restoration of statehood one can expect the same to be done at the earliest. He exuded confidence that the central government would not waste much time in granting statehood to Jammu & Kashmir.
“Look if I go to court and seek its intervention for restoration of statehood it means I am going to fight with the central government in this regard. I don’t think that is the best option at the moment and let us be hopeful that Jammu & Kashmir will get back its statehood sooner than later,” said the chief minister.
The ANB correspondent said that Omar said that the Supreme Court of India while deciding about Article 370 had directed for restoration of statehood even though no time frame was set in this regard. He said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister had time and again said that once the assembly elections are over statehood would be restored to Jammu & Kashmir.
The chief minister said that he is under no pressure from the central government to toe their line adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister have told him that they will extend support to his government since the National Conference has got overwhelming mandate from people in the 2024 assembly elections.
Omar while acknowledging the fact that dual powers of centre lead to confusion said that points of friction between Raj Bhawan and the elected government are being exaggerated by a section of people. He said that he is trying to understand the nuances of governance under a union territory adding that the chief minister of a state is more powerful than his counterpart in a union territory.
Referring to protests carried out by some people against the location of National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus at Pulwama the chief minister said that the government is willing to relocate the campus to some other place in some other district provided all the people of Pulwama agree about the same.
“If the people of Pulwama don’t want the campus of NIT in their district then they should come forward and make it clear to the government. I received from one of the legislators who said that he is willing to offer land for the NIT campus in case the same is not located in the Pulwama district,” said Omar.
The chief minister said that a plan of providing 200 units of free electricity would be rolled out in March-April to the consumers who have got the meters installed. He said the draft of the business rules for governance in Jammu & Kashmir has been completed and the same will be shared with some of the legal luminaries. (ANB)
