Srinagar, 9 Oct

National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said NC-Congress government will pass a resolution demanding the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood in its first Cabinet meeting. "After the formation of the government, I hope in the first cabinet meeting, the cabinet will pass a resolution impressing upon the Centre to restore the statehood. The government should then take that resolution to the prime minister," Abdullah told reporters here.

He expressed hope that the government in Jammu and Kashmir will be able to run smoothly unlike in Delhi. "There is a difference between us and Delhi. Delhi was never a state. No one promised Delhi a statehood. Jammu and Kashmir was a state before 2019. We have been promised the restoration of statehood by the prime minister, the home minister and other senior ministers who have said that three steps will be taken in J-K -“ delimitation, election and then statehood. "Delimitation has happened, the elections have now taken place as well. So, only the statehood remains which should be restored," he added.

Asked how important was the need for coordination between the new J-K government and Centre, the NC leader said nothing can be achieved by having a confrontation with New Delhi. "Let the government be formed first. This question should be posed to the chief minister. There should be a cordial relationship with New Delhi. My advice to him (CM) will be that we cannot address any issues by having a confrontation with the Centre.

"It is not that we will accept the BJP's politics, or that the BJP will accept our politics. We will continue to oppose the BJP, but it is not our compulsion to oppose the Centre," he said. "It will be for the benefit of J-K and for the people of J-K to have a good relationship with the Centre," Abdullah said.

"The people have not voted for a confrontation. The people of J-K have voted because they want employment, they want development, they want the restoration of the statehood, they want to address electricity and other issues and that redressal will not happen by having a confrontation with New Delhi," he added.

Abdullah said the NC would call a meeting of the legislative party on Thursday to start the process of government formation. "I have spoken to NC president Farooq Abdullah and the party will call a legislative party meeting tomorrow. After that, there will be in a meeting of the alliance partners where the alliance leader will be elected and then we will go to the Raj Bhavan to stake the claim for government formation," he said, adding, "I hope the new government is in place in the next few days".

To a question about whether the PDP would be a part of the coalition government, the NC leader said there were no discussions over that as of now. "There has been no approach made to us by the PDP. We have made no approach to them. Given the results of this election, which I think is quite a setback to them, I think at the moment I can understand that there must be some internal discussion going on. "At some points of time, if a channel of communication opens, we will sit down and talk to them. But it is not a priority for us at the moment," he said.

Abdullah said while he is humbled by the mandate of the people, he is also acutely aware of the responsibility that it places upon them. "The people of J-K have gone unheard since 2018. Now the time has come for us to work for the benefit of the people of J-K. I am also acutely aware of the fact that there is a sharp divide between Kashmir and Jammu and therefore, the incoming government will have a major responsibility of giving a sense of ownership to the people of Jammu," he said.

The government that comes in in the next few days will not be a government of the NC or of the alliance, or it will not be a government of those that voted for the alliance, it will be a government for every single individual of J-K, regardless of who they voted for, or whether they voted at all, the NC leader said.

"A special emphasis will be laid to give a sense of ownership and voice within the government to those areas from where MLAs in this coalition will be less in number," he added.

On the issue of the nomination of five MLAs by the LG, the NC vice president advised Manoj Sinha not to do it "because even with nominating those five MLAs, the BJP will not be able to form the government". "You will only nominate five MLAs to sit in the opposition and there will be a row, because we will then have to approach the Supreme Court and file a case against it. While we want to have a cordial relationship with the Centre, this move will create tension right from day one.

"The nomination of five MLAs will not have any impact on government formation. Some independents who won the election are already in touch with us and they will join us and we will increase our lead. The BJP will not gain anything by nominating these five MLAs," he added.