Swearing in ceremony likely on Wednesday
*Central leadership to take call on CLP leader
Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Oct 11: National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah this evening met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhawan to present a letter of support from his party, Congress, CPI(M), AAP and Independent candidates and staked claim for the formation of Government.
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Omar after returning from Raj Bhawan told reporters that the oath ceremony may take a few more days and was likely to be held on Wednesday as the LG office will forward papers to first President’s office in New Delhi and the Home Ministry.
He said that he is of the belief that if things go well, swearing in ceremony would now be held on Wednesday.
“Today, I met LG and presented the letters of support from NC, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Independents. I also staked a claim on Government formation. I requested the LG to give us a date so that we can take oath and the new Government starts functioning. We were told it would take a few days,” Omar said.
He said it is not that one elected Government is shifting power to another one. “We are governed by Centre’s rule and we are a Union Territory. The LG office will have to prepare papers now and forward the same to Rashtrapati Bhawan and then Home Ministry in New Delhi,” said Omar. Click here to watch video
Asked about who are the dignitaries invited for the oath ceremony, he said his father Dr Farooq Abdullah is the leader of INDI Alliance, he knows better who have been invited by him. “I will make a list tomorrow and start sending invitations to people. From tomorrow, we will start preparations for the oath ceremony,” he said.
About any demands from Congress, the CM designate said the party presented us with a letter of support. “Whatever we had to discuss, we discussed,” he said.
To a query that Jammu people would have very less representation in the new Government, Omar said: “There would be no injustice with Jammu.”
Earlier, in the day, Congress party held a Legislature Party meeting in Srinagar where they decided to present the letter of support from its six legislators to NC.
The meeting of the six newly elected MLAs — including Karra, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Nizamuddin Bhat, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Irfan Hafeez Lone and Iftikar Ahmad — was held in the party headquarters at M A Road here. Karra later met Omar and presented him with a letter of support from the party.
“Today, we had a CLP meeting in which we unanimously decided to give the right to the Central leadership to take the call on the CLP leader. We have passed a resolution on the issue and that has been forwarded to the Central leadership for taking the call,” Karra said.
The JKPCC chief said there were no differences on the choice of the CLP leader, but “there is a precedent in the INC to do that… this is nothing abnormal for the INC”.
To a question whether the party has any demands for supporting the NC, Karra said they have not made any demands and the party wants to keep the spirit of the INDIA bloc intact “for a bigger cause of the betterment of people”.
Asked about the NC enjoying a majority on its own with the support of Independents, he said the spirit of the Alliance is much higher than the numbers game. “The spirit is different. It is pan-India spirit. It is not confined to J&K. It has utility for the entire India. This is not an issue of Ministerial berths. It is for our fight against the BJP,” he said.
To a query whether the party accepts NC leader Omar Abdullah, who has been elected as the Legislature Party Leader of his party, as the Chief Ministerial face of the Alliance, Karra said, “When the NC has elected its leader, why should we comment? He is acceptable to us. It is their choice.”
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