SRINAGAR, 1 October — National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said here yesterday that he would quit the federal Cabinet of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee after Kashmir Assembly elections end next week.
Abdullah, who has taken over the party’s leadership from his father, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, said he did not support keeping a minister in Vajpayee’s Hindu extremist-led coalition after his resignation as minister of state for external affairs. But he said it was his personal opinion and he would seek his party’s view on ties with the National Democratic Alliance, which includes some two dozen parties and is headed by Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Parties like the National Conference, for reasons I don’t want to go into, lose their identity when they are part of a large coalition at the center (New Delhi), particularly ones that are led by one party,” Abdullah told reporters in Srinagar.
He stopped short of saying that the National Conference would withdraw from the central government, saying only that he would advise the party “that there should be no ministerial representative.”
Asked about the change in heart by the National Conference, Abdullah said: “I wasn’t party president. I am now party president. I can now decide what I think is in the interests of the party.”
Abdullah blasted senior BJP leaders, including Information Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Defense Chaman Lal Gupta, for their recent statements on corruption and vote rigging in the ongoing state elections.
Speaking about the outcome of the elections, Abdullah said his party was all set to form a government in the state on its own, but he categorically ruled out the possibility of joining a coalition government. He said his party would sit in the opposition if it fails to win enough seats to form a government independently.
Abdullah said the Congress, the People’s Democratic Party and the BJP fear that they would be defeated in the electoral battle and so were leveling baseless charges of vote rigging to save their face.
Abdullah brushed aside PDP allegations that his party had hired militants to threaten voters. He dismissed suggestions he was heading the National Conference — first set up by his grandfather — purely as a family legacy.
“I am not here because somebody has forced me to be here. I am here purely because I choose to be here. If I wanted the easy option I would have stayed in Delhi. Being a minister of state in the government of India is a cakewalk.”
When asked by Arab News whether the elections would pave way for the settlement of the Kashmir conflict, the NC chief said the elections would not resolve the crisis. “But it is certainly a step further in that direction,” he said.
Abdullah said if elected his government would expect to hold talks with New Delhi on giving greater autonomy to Kashmir. His government would also try to address the state’s crippled economy and lack of jobs to try to ease the revolt.
Abdullah accused Pakistan of meddling in elections in the state, saying Islamabad is missing an opportunity to demonstrate its good faith. He predicted that New Delhi would be disappointed with Pakistan’s attitude to the election so far.
“This was to have been a test of Pakistan’s intentions vis-a-vis its relations with India. And quite honestly, on the whole, the government of India will find itself quite disappointed with Pakistan’s attitude to this election,” Abdullah said.
He said Pakistan had chosen to meddle in the election in every way possible, from making inflammatory statements to helping militants cross into the state to attack candidates in a bid to derail the poll.
