Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and the chief of National Conference, filed his nomination from Ganderbal today with a fervent plea to the people — “My honour, my turban are in your hands”.
“After 16 years, I am again placing myself before the people of Ganderbal with a hope that you will again let me serve as your MLA and servant,” Mr Abdullah told the people today.
“The people of Ganderbal have suffered a lot after 2016, no one healed their wounds, no one addressed their difficulties. We will talk about all these issues in the coming two-three weeks,” he added.
National Conference’s ally Rahul Gandhi, was in the Union Territory too today, supporting the Congress candidate from Anantnag. And in sync with the message of the National Conference, Mr Gandhi spoke kept his focus on the restoration of statehood, which is the main election promise of Mr Abdullah’s party.
Mr Abdullah, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the Baramulla constituency, had lost to independent candidate Engineer Rashid. But he had won in the last polls held in the erstwhile state — from Beerwah assembly seat in 2014.
The 54-year-old who said he would not contest in the assembly polls, had a last minute change of heart. He had explained it to NDTV in an exclusive interview, saying, “Ultimately, if I believe I am a leader of the National Conference, then I must lead”.
From the point of view of the assembly, he said it would be “hypocritical” or “seen as hypocritical” if he were to tell people that “I don’t believe in this assembly, but you must vote”.
“Whatever the flaws of this assembly, it is still better than what we have now. This assembly may not be the assembly that it was in 2018, but it is still an assembly that will speak for them that will fight for their rights. And also this is an assembly that will bring back the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir. We’ll make a start from there,” he added.
