Omar Abdullah Calls for Restoration of Statehood in First Cabinet Meeting, Faces Criticism from Opposition
Abdullah, the vice president of the National Conference (NC), has created a draft resolution.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will soon go to New Delhi to present the draft to Prime Minister Modi.
Omar Abdullah, who became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, took action in his first cabinet meeting to request that the Central government restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
Abdullah, the vice-president of the National Conference (NC), has created a draft resolution.
The National Conference won 42 seats in the recent assembly elections. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will soon go to New Delhi to present the draft to Prime Minister Modi.
However, Sajad Lone, People's Conference chief, questioned the NC government’s decision to pass the statehood resolution through the cabinet. He believes that it shouidl have passed in Assembly.
“Cabinet is a majoritarian institution of governance. It does not reflect all shades and opinions as per the will of the people of J and K. All across the country, to the best of my knowledge, Assembly is the proper institution for addressing major issues like that of statehood or Article 370,” Sajad Lone wrote in a post on X.
“When the NC Government passed a resolution on autonomy they passed it in the Assembly not through a cabinet resolution. What has changed now. Fail to understand why this resolution should not have been reserved for Assembly. Why are we so keen to trivialise everything. Would have loved to see which way BJP and other parties vote on statehood and on Article 370 resolution when it is presented in the Assembly,” Lone added.
Also, Peoples Democratic Party MLA Waheed Para found fault with Omar Abdullah's resolution on statehood, calling it a steback for not addressing Artcile 370.
She further noted that the resolution is a mere rectification of August 5, 2019, where the state of Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of autonomy after seven decades.
“Omar Abdullah's first resolution on statehood is nothing less than a rectification of the August 5th, 2019 decision. No resolution on Article 370 and scaling down the demand to mere statehood is a huge setback, especially after seeking votes on the promise of restoring Article 370,” wrote Para on X.
After Election Commision announced the details regarding the assembly elections, Omar Abdullah said that he would prioritise passing a resolution seeking revoke of the region's statehood and special status.
J&K elections were held in three phases. The elections were held in J&k from September 18 to October 1 and the National Conference-Congress alliance won the elections.
Omar Abdullah, after taking oath, expressed his opinion that J&K will not remain a Union territory. He added that the State will regain full statehood soon.
