Owais Gul
Srinagar, Aug 26: National Conference (NC) Vice President and former chief minister of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state, Omar Abdullah on Monday hinted at participating in the upcoming assembly elections, saying that he is presently in discussion with the party leaders in this regard and the people will come to know once the list of candidates is public.
Talking to the reporters after the joint press conference of NC and INC leaders, Omar said that he is presently discussing the issue of participating in the polls with his colleagues. “I have realized that how the people could cast their vote and how my colleagues would seek votes for the assembly, which I am trying to devalue by not contesting in the elections, which was my mistake,” he said.
However, he said he doesn’t want to give a bad signal to the people, therefore, sought some days to decide about his participation in the polls. “My participation in the polls will be cleared once the list of candidates is out,” Omar said.
Asked about the discussion on the party’s manifesto by Congress leaders, Omar said that there was no discussion on the manifesto. “Let me be categorical, at no point in time did the Congress party raise any objections to our manifesto. In the initial stage of the discussion at the local level, they had asked whether we would consider some sought of common minimum programme, we told them very clearly that the common minimum programme always arrives after you receive the verdict from the people,” he said.
“Therefore, we are fighting this election to win and if NC and Congress receive the support of the people then we will form a common minimum programme for the governance for next five years. But we didn’t discuss our manifesto with Congress nor have we asked them what they are going to include in their manifesto,” Omar added.
Furthermore, while replying to a query, Omar stated that the statements from BJP are expected. “BJP should think about its own house first. It is for the first time that the BJP has deleted the list of candidates within ten minutes. The situation is different at their office as the people even broke the chairs. They should look into their own house,” he said.
About the exclusion of PDP in the alliance, Omar said that the Congress is the main party in the INDI Alliance and it was their choice to meet NC and forge an alliance. “I am nobody to ask Congress about forging an alliance with PDP. The Congress didn’t talk about the party and thus the issue is over,” he said.
