Prepared to surrender chair, maintain polls for restoration of J&Okay’s statehood: Omar Abdullah | Srinagar Information

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday mentioned he was prepared for contemporary elections and wouldn’t thoughts dropping his chair, if the Centre restored statehood. “I’ve no attachment to my chair,” he instructed reporters after teeing off at a golf occasion in Gulmarg.Reacting to media stories suggesting that the Centre could take into account restoring statehood to J&Okay within the coming months, however on the situation of holding contemporary elections, the CM mentioned: “I do know the place such tales are coming from. It was planted to create worry amongst MLAs in order that they might say, ‘Allow us to proceed for 5 years’. However, statehood isn’t for MLAs, neither is it for govt; it’s for the folks of J&Okay.”Omar mentioned Nationwide Convention wouldn’t change into an impediment to restoration of statehood, even when it meant dissolving the present meeting. “If the message is that the Meeting will likely be dissolved for statehood to be restored, then so be it,” he mentioned. “The day you restore statehood to J&Okay, the very subsequent day we are going to ask the governor to dissolve the Meeting.”“Statehood is our constitutional and political proper,” Omar asserted. “It can’t be used as a bargaining chip. Don’t threaten us via planted tales.”His father and NC president Farooq Abdullah, who was in Anantnag on Tuesday, mentioned J&Okay was downgraded right into a Union Territory (UT) due to its Muslim majority character. There was no justification for revoking the statehood, he added.Addressing celebration delegates in Dooru space, Farooq mentioned: “We’re not enemies of India. We selected to affix India in 1947 when Pakistan was at our doorstep.”The present Meeting in J&Okay was elected in Oct 2024 within the first elections held after J&Okay was stripped of its particular standing in addition to statehood, and was bifurcated into two UTs, in Aug 2019. NC emerged as the one largest celebration within the 90-member Home.Omar, who was at an award ceremony for golfers and hoteliers at Gulmarg Golf Championship, expressed frustration over the continual closure of vacationer locations in Kashmir, stating that it was not giving good indicators to incoming vacationers.He recalled the previous glory of Gulmarg golf Course, and declared that his govt was decided to make Gulmarg a world-class {golfing} vacation spot as soon as once more.The CM, who additionally holds the tourism portfolio, emphasised the necessity for a tourist-friendly angle. “We should see each vacationer not as a one-time customer, however as a possible repeat visitor. Their satisfaction ought to be our benchmark,” he asserted.