Omar attacks PDP for truck with BJP after 2014 Assembly polls

Asserting that the principal task ahead of the ruling party is to protect its special status, Mr Abdullah said the NC had fielded suitable candidates from all the parliamentary seats of Kashmir who will ensure that the voice of people is heard in Parliament.

“NC, keeping in view the herculean task of putting up a strong front in protecting state’s special constitutional status, has fielded most suitable candidates from the three parliamentary constituencies of Kashmir,” he said while addressing separate rallies in Beerwah and Kunzar.

“Our candidate for south Kashmir is legal luminary justice Hassnain Masudi, whose pronounced judgments and articles reveal his legal acumen and dedication. Our candidate from north Kashmir’s Baramulla LS Constituency is Muhammad Akbar Lone, again a former advocate has served at many key posts in the cabinet. He is a fighter, and we wanted a person of his standing and political acumen who could fight for the interests of our state in Lok Sabha,” he added.

Mr Abdullah said, “For Srinagar, we could not think of anybody other than Dr Farooq Abdullah. A four-time chief minister, he has represented the state in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha many times. To have a person of his national standing representing state in Lok Sabha will benefit the interests of state.”

Questioning Ms Mehbooba for "denigrating the task of raising issues of state in the Lok Sabha", he said: “We have seen such members of Parliament who used to say 'yar bolu yaar', we saw such candidates who failed to highlight issues concerning our state in the top most house of people, on the contrary they spoke of New Delhi in Kashmir. Now people have made it a point to show them their right place.”

“Nowadays we hear PDP president Mehbooba Mufti saying that she will never join hands with the BJP. How should we believe her? Previously she sought the mandate of people at the pretext of keeping BJP out, but what followed was an apt case of political opportunism. PDP joined hands with the same BJP, given the fact that our party had extended unconditional support to them to keep BJP out in 2015. But Late Mufti Sahab declined our offer saying that they are joining hands with BJP to forge friendship with Pakistan, remove AFSPA, bringing back power projects and usher development in the state,” he said.

“Nonetheless, today we ask them what they were able to achieve. How many people were given jobs? No relief was given to flood victims, whatever compensation flood victims got was in our tenure. Not to talk of removing AFSPA, it is the PDP president who granted NIA foothold in Kashmir. It was in her tenure that people were used as human shield. It was in her tenure as chief minister that people were blinded with pellet guns,” he said.

The NC vice president also lashed out at PDP for extending central tax regime GST to the state without allegedly taking into consideration its far-reaching implications on our artisans, hoteliers, and other marginal traders and common masses.

“People today are overburdened with various taxes. The central food bill was also implemented in the state putting the lives of lakhs of BPL and APL families in strain. In my tenure, I withstood the pressures of implementing central food bill, but PDP took no time to implement it. They even snatched food from the plates of poor people,” he said.