Omar won’t contest polls till statehood restored to J&K: Farooq Abdullah

Former chief minister and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah Thursday claimed that his son and former CM Omar will not contest assembly elections till statehood is restored to Jammu and Kashmir.

“He (Omar) has already made it clear that he will stay away from elections till statehood is restored,” he told reporters in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

Omar had announced this decision in July 2020 upset over the downgrading of J&K to the status of a Union Territory following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

“I have been a leader of the assembly of the state. In its time, the most empowered assembly. I cannot and will not be a member of what is now one of the most disempowered assemblies in the country. It’s as simple as that,” he had said.

Another former CM of J&K and president of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti has put more harsh conditions on her participation in the Assembly polls. She has been maintaining that she will not contest elections till Article 370 is restored and that “restoration of statehood was not their demand.”