Srinagar, (CNI) National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has refused to contest assembly elections until Jammu and Kashmir remains a union territory.

 

“I don’t fancy my chances for anything. I don’t aspire for the post of chief minister. And I certainly don’t aspire to lead a union territory.

 

“I have made it absolutely clear that the current situation in which Jammu and Kashmir finds itself, I am not contesting the assembly elections. I have said all this since 2020 and there is no change in my position. It has not come,” Abdullah told in an interview here on Saturday.

 

Asked about the rationale behind leaving the family stronghold of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat to contest from Baramulla, Abdullah, who has been elected to the Lok Sabha three times, said it was not his habit to take the easy way out.

 

“Why should I avoid a fight? Yes, political wisdom would suggest that I fight from Srinagar because God forbid a setback for me would be a setback for the entire party. But this is not the first time that a member of the family has He has contested from any seat other than Srinagar,” he said.

 

Abdullah recalled his grandmother Akbar Jahan, who won from the Anantnag constituency in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections.

 

“I still remember campaigning with my grandmother from Anantnag in 1984 after the assassination of democracy when MLAs were bought, defected and my father’s government was brought down.

 

He added, “My grandmother fought Anantnag and won.

 

Abdullah said his fight for the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat was not against any particular candidate but against “the power of the central government and the BJP”.

 

The biggest attack we are seeing from Delhi is in North Kashmir. The greatest attempt to forge an unnatural alliance is in northern Kashmir.he said.

 

“If you remember last Friday while walking out of Hazrat Bill, Altaf Bukhari, the leader of his party mentioned Sajjad Lone, made a small insult.

 

“He called it Du Anto ki Amirat (a building of two bricks). As soon as he uttered these words, senior BJP leader Tarun Chugh rushed to Srinagar, went straight to Altaf Bukhari’s residence and Sajjad Lone was called there to end this alliance.

 

“So, I am not fighting against any individual. My fight in North Kashmir is against the BJP, it is against the support it is giving to the people on the ground.

 

On the BJP’s claims about development in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, the former chief minister said that by any measure of human development, Jammu and Kashmir is far better than some of the so-called developed states in the country.

 

“In terms of standard of living, J-K is even higher than states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. In terms of basic things like metrics that make up the human development index, infant mortality, maternal mortality, growth, girls’ education. From.

 

“According to him, NC has done nothing but we have provided free education up to university level. Can you deny that? In our historic land reform, we handed over land to people anywhere in the country without any compensation. Not even done.

 

Today, J-K is the only place in the country where Dalits can walk with their heads held high because they own the land. Can we forget it? J-K has one of the lowest poverty levels in the country. When was the last time you heard of someone dying of starvation in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.(CNI)