SRINAGAR — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday dismissed speculation about instability within his legislature party, saying he had complete faith in his MLAs and was not worried about any of them being “poached”.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at the SKICC, Omar, as reported by news agency KNS, said he had no apprehension about legislators leaving his camp.
“Do I count my MLAs daily or not? You are asking this, aren’t you? So you ask am I afraid that some of my MLAs will slip away? I am not at all afraid. I have complete faith in my people,” he said.
Without naming anyone, the chief minister alleged that some individuals fuelling speculation about the stability of his government had links with agencies based on Gupkar Road.
“These people who are in between… I know who they are. These are a couple of people who take their envelopes from the offices of the agencies of Gupkar Road. These are the same people who came to my office as soon as the government was formed to adjust me somewhere,” he said.
Omar said he had refrained from identifying the individuals publicly in order to preserve their dignity, but alleged that some of those now speculating about the number of MLAs were the same people he had declined to accommodate in his government.
“Now, to keep their respect, I do not open my mouth. But you… remove the remote. They come to my office. You will find the names of all these people who are counting MLAs today. Because I did not give them a job in my government, now they start writing,” he said.
The chief minister also criticised unnamed commentators whom he accused of using social media against his government after being denied government accommodation.
“Here are those commentators who do not get a government house, so they use social media against the government. If I had given them a flat in Jawahar Nagar, would they have dared to write like this? This is selfishness, isn’t it? And I am not worried about selfishness,” he said.
Omar says UCC decision rests with Parliament
On the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Omar said the matter should ultimately be decided by Parliament and not by individual states or Union Territories.
His remarks came in response to Uttarakhand becoming the first state to implement the UCC.
“Let them do what they want to do till a law is enacted for the country. Finally, it is Parliament which will decide on this and not the individual UTs or States,” Omar told reporters.
He said state-level initiatives would not constitute a final nationwide position until Parliament enacted a law applicable across the country. “In the end, the decision will be taken in Parliament,” he said.
On the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Omar said no law had been passed yet and that a Joint Parliamentary Committee was still holding discussions. “Let the committee do its work, after that Parliament will discuss its report,” he said.
He also said Kashmir chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had presented his views before the committee.
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