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SRINAGAR: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday said it has been 10 years since assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held and said if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was so keen on “one nation, one election”, he should start it from the Union territory.
The National Conference has been pitching for early conduct of the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The prime minister has made the process of ‘one nation, one election’ a personal challenge. It is believed that the PM wants ‘one nation, one election’ to be implemented in the country. If that is the case, Modiji should start from Jammu and Kashmir. It has been 10 years since we saw an (assembly) election. How long will he make us wait?” Abdullah asked.
He was responding to a question from reporters on the likely visit of the prime minister to Jammu next week.
“It is good that he is coming. We will get to hear from him how much development has taken place since 2019, which projects have come up as we cannot see any major project.
“And we would like to hear when elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir…. We would also like to hear from the PM as to how that Centre is going to act on the Supreme Court directions on holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir before September 30,” he said.
Asked about the charge that the government was using the Enforcement Directorate against opposition leaders ahead of elections, Abdullah said the process has never stopped.
“Before the elections, during the elections and after the elections, this (use of ED) process has not stopped. If this is the price we have to pay for opposing the BJP, we will pay it from time to time,” he said.
“We have said it before…we will cooperate with them (probe agencies) as we are not trying to hide anything. We have appeared before them in the past, we will appear again when asked to,” he added.
Abdullah said he was not sure about the tactics that the BJP will adopt in the forthcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The way they have treated Jammu and Kashmir after 2019, forget about winning three seats in Kashmir, they cannot win Udhampur and Jammu seats without using Modi and Mandir.
“To win Jammu and Udhampur seats, they will have to use the three Ms – Modi, Mandir and Money. If they were confident of winning all five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, they would have held the assembly elections,” he said.
Abdullah said the BJP either does not hold elections or resorts to malpractice wherever they cannot win an election.
“They knew that they cannot win the Mumbai Municipal elections. So, the polls have not been held for past three years. Chandigarh they could not win, there was daylight robbery. Even the Supreme Court said democracy has been looted,” he added.
