Nothing new in PM Modi's speech at Srinagar: Omar Abdullah

The former J&K chief minister said that while the PM himself cannot announce the elections, PM Modi should at least have said about conducting the assembly elections before the Supreme Court’s September 31 deadline.

Srinagar: National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah on Friday said that there was nothing new in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at a rally on Thursday, and the hopes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir were dashed.

“I did not see anything new in the speech. He talked about the same things that he has been (talking about). He did not mention anything which the people wanted to hear - about the restoration of democracy,” Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of a party function.

The former J&K chief minister said that while the Prime Minister himself cannot announce the elections, PM Modi should at least have said about conducting the assembly elections before the Supreme Court’s September 31 deadline.

“He should have said there would be polls before that (deadline), he should have said something about the restoration of the full statehood, announced an employment package for the unemployed youth, something for the regularisation of the daily-wage workers, about the electricity crisis,” the NC leader added.

“We were hoping Modi will speak about these, but our hopes were dashed,” he said.

Earlier, former Baramulla MLA Javed Hussain Beig joined the NC along with his supporter. Beig, nephew of former deputy chief minister and Padmashree awardee Muzaffar Hussain Beig, was recently expelled from the Apni Party. He was a PDP legislator from the Baramulla assembly segment in 2014.