Omar Abdullah Accuses BJP of ‘Blackmail Politics’ Over J&K Statehood

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday charged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with obstructing governance in the Union Territory, alleging that the party was using the issue of statehood as a tool of pressure. 

He said the delay in cabinet expansion was not due to fear within the ruling National Conference but because the region had yet to regain full statehood.

Responding to a statement made by the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly, Abdullah said, “There is no Eknath Shinde in the National Conference. All our legislators stand united.”

He added that the LoP seemed “impatient to sit on the chair of Jammu and Kashmir’s minister,”.

On the contentious issue of delimitation, Abdullah accused the BJP of manipulating the exercise to its advantage.

“We suffered their delimitation and we know about delimitation. It was done only to benefit BJP and BJP’s friends,” he said.

Chief minister further alleged that the BJP was deliberately blocking the functioning of the elected government.

“LoP sahib proves with his statements that until BJP gets a government here, they will not let us work properly and they will not make Jammu and Kashmir a state,” Abdullah said, warning that people were being “threatened in the name of statehood,”.

He reminded voters that those who supported the BJP in the last election should reflect on the party’s tactics, which he described as “blackmail politics”.

Abdullah also invoked Supreme Court observations and past precedents, stressing that the single largest party should be invited to form the government and prove its majority on the floor of the House.

“There is no reason to stop this process. BJP should be allowed to form a government. If they prove their majority in the Assembly, they will remain. If they do not prove it, they will have to resign,” he said.