People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone Tuesday said that National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah had offered Bharatiya Janata Party his party’s support and agreed to share the chief minister’s tenure for three years each in 2014.
“But BJP top leaders rejected his offer. He has beenrejected by BJP as well as the people of the state,” Lone said.
“Omar accuses every political opponent of being close to theBJP. I ask Omar why he met the top leadership and begged for two-and-a-halfhours for support to become the chief minister,” he said.
Lone said Omar was happy to share the chair for three yearsbut is now using BJP as a whip to beat his opponents.
He said Farooq Abdullah rigged the polls in 1987 and pushedKashmir into violence, which shows no signs of abating and devours Kashmiris ona daily basis.
“In 1996, no Kashmiri political party was willing to contestpolls till New Delhi offered some political deal to Kashmiris. But FarooqAbdullah sabotaged any such possibility,” he said.
He said then Prime Minister Narsimha Rao had stated ‘sky isthe limit’, hinting at restoration of internal autonomy.
“But Farooq was power-hungry and he agreed to contest inreturn for a government on a platter,” said Sajad, blaming Farooq for scuttlingtalks between the government of India and the Hizbul Mujahideen in 2001.
“Farooq Abdullah unambiguously opposed it and favouredcontinued military action in the state,” he alleged.
“The first round of dialogue was supposed to be held inSrinagar away from the glare of the press. But the CM’s office under FarooqAbdullah tipped the press and the unsuspecting militants arrived at the venueand found hundreds of journalists there, which resulted in the failure of thedialogue process and subsequently the militants were killed,” he said.
Lone said that BJP needs to understand that AFSPA is part ofthe problem and cannot become a part of the solution.
“Arrogance and belligerence won’t take the BJP too far inKashmir,” he added.
Sajad said he condemns summoning Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to NewDelhi for questioning by the NIA.
“Mirwaiz is a religious leader. Calling him to Delhi is nota good thing. This is a sensitive state and grilling him in Delhi is not a goodthing. Change needs to be done here. You cannot use an institution to summonpeople,” he said.
Asked about Omar’s remarks that he was day-dreaming ofbecoming the chief minister, he said, “Only NC doesn’t have the right to CMseat. He has failed and people have rejected him. Now, there needs to be a change.”
Sajad said that NC was in power for at least 36 years anddared Omar to name one constitutional amendment his party reversed.
“I can name at least eight amendments which were adapted intheir regime. These people are taking the benefit of history as most of thepeople are not aware about it,” he said.
“What was the need for passing autonomy resolution when theycould have passed a bill? When the resolution was rejected, Omar was a ministerin New Delhi. He should have resigned as a token protest to show hisseriousness,” he said.
Asked about BJP manifesto, he said he was not “satisfiedwith it”.
However, he said Congress’s manifesto was partly fine butthey should rectify their past mistakes.