Omar Abdullah blames PDP's tie-up with BJP for Art 370 revocation; recalls 2014 offer

Seething over the revocation of Article 370, NC vice president Omar Abdullah trained his guns on PDP for the first time during his rally in Chatroo on Tuesday. Revealing that his party had extended unconditional support to late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed after the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls, Abdullah lamented that he turned down the offer and chose to form a government with BJP. According to the ex-J&K CM, this alliance paved the way for the eventual abrogation of Article 370. Moreover, he asserted that the Centre had failed to fulfill any promise pertaining to J&K.

NC leader Omar Abdullah remarked, "They took advantage of our fundamental weakness. I knew that was possible. That's why after the 2014 election, I extended a hand of friendship towards Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. I told him that the path you are choosing will prove to be very dangerous for Jammu and Kashmir. We will find it very difficult to survive after this decision. I assured him that he should not be under the false impression that I have a lust for power. I sat in the CM's chair for 6 years". 

He elaborated, "I have no greed for power. Neither do my associates want to be Ministers. We don't want to be Rajya Sabha members or MLCs. We will extend unconditional support to you. You form the government but at least don't bring those people (in power) whose intentions about this region are not good. But at that time, they had their own compulsions. They took a different decision." 

"I don't know until when we will continue to bear the punishment for that one decision. Because not a single thing told to us has not come true. We were told that there will be peace here after the abrogation of Article 370. Development works will start and investment will come from outside", the former CM added. 

The ill-fated BJP-PDP alliance

Notably, the last Assembly election in J&K was held in November-December 2014 which threw up a hung Assembly. In the 87-member House, PDP had 28 members, BJP 25, NC 15, and Congress 12. On March 1, 2015, PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took over as the Chief Minister after PDP and BJP forged a post-poll coalition. After his untimely death in January 2016, his daughter and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti took oath as the CM on April 4, 2016.

However, the region again witnessed political instability after she resigned on June 19, 2018, post BJP pulling out of the alliance. When PDP, NC and Congress decided to join hands for government formation on November 21, 2018, the Governor unexpectedly dissolved the state Assembly. With the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 and the revocation of statehood, elections were further delayed.