CM Omar Targets BJP Over ‘Shinde Plot’: Says NC Will Not Split | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of attempting to destabilise his government in Jammu and Kashmir and alleged that the party would not allow the elected administration to function smoothly unless it came to power in the Union Territory.

The sharp remarks came amid escalating political confrontation between the ruling National Conference and the BJP, fuelled by recent comments from Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma suggesting that Jammu and Kashmir was the BJP’s “next target” and hinting at the possibility of defections from the National Conference similar to the split engineered in Maharashtra by Eknath Shinde in 2022.

“I say it repeatedly that LoP Sahab is by his statements proving that unless the BJP gets the government here, they will not allow us to work smoothly and they will not make Jammu and Kashmir a state,” Omar told reporters.

The Chief Minister said Sharma’s repeated references to an “Eknath Shinde” emerging from the NC reflected the BJP’s intention to split the party and engineer a change in government in Jammu and Kashmir.

“It’s obvious that LoP Sahab is desperate to occupy the chair of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister. I want to tell LoP Sahab there is no Eknath Shinde in the National Conference. National Conference MLAs are stubbornly with the National Conference,” Omar said.

Shinde had led a rebellion within the Shiv Sena in 2022, splitting the party and later forming the government in Maharashtra with BJP support.

Responding to Sharma’s recent assertion that the BJP had been preparing for Jammu and Kashmir for over a year and that the NC was “on ventilator support”, Omar alleged that the saffron party was pursuing “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” politics in the Union Territory.

“This shows you the motives of the BJP. Eknath Shinde emerged because the BJP helped him move out,” he said.

The Chief Minister rejected speculation that the expansion of his Cabinet had been delayed because of fears of instability or defections within the ruling alliance.

“Cabinet expansion has stopped because we were not given the status of a state. Cabinet expansion has not stopped because of fear,” he said.

Omar also accused the BJP of using the restoration of statehood as political leverage and intimidating the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

“Till BJP does not get a government, they will not let us work properly and they will not make JK a state,” he said, adding that people who voted for the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir should understand the “politics of blackmail” allegedly being practised by the party.

The Chief Minister further criticised the 2022 delimitation exercise carried out in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, alleging that the exercise had been designed to politically benefit the BJP and its allies.

“We have suffered their delimitation. It was done only to benefit the friends of BJP and BJP,” he said, while appearing to take a swipe at the party for failing to secure power in the Assembly elections despite the exercise.

Omar also commented on constitutional issues outside Jammu and Kashmir, referring to the political developments in Tamil Nadu and arguing that Governors should first invite the single largest party to form the government in a hung House and allow it to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly.

Citing Supreme Court observations and the example of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 13-day government in 1996, Omar said constitutional authorities should not pre-emptively deny an opportunity to stake claim to government formation.

“At that time, the President of India called him, the 13-day government came and when Vajpayee did not have his number, he resigned,” Omar said.

He maintained that any claimant should be allowed to form the government and prove majority support through a floor test.

“If he proves his majority in the Assembly, then he will remain. If he does not prove, then he will have to resign,” he said.

On the issue of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and whether a similar exercise could impact Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said it was too early to speculate.

“Right now, it has only happened in Bengal. The Assembly elections in JK are not due until 2029. First, let’s see what impact it will have on the rest of the country,” he said.