Support to PAGD, public endorsement of it’s plan on spl status restoration: Omar

Srinagar: National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said people from Jammu as well as Kashmir have extended complete support to the Gupkar alliance and endorsed its plan seeking restoration of J&K’s special status by giving a befitting reply to the BJP in the DDC polls. His remarks came amid counting of votes of the District Development Council (DDC) elections, in which the People’s Alliance on Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) is leading in 81 seats and has won 30 so far whereas the BJP is leading in 56 and has won eight seats till now. The Congress is leading in 19 seats and has bagged four seats so far. The results and emerging trends of DDC polls should act as an “eye-opener” for the BJP and “its proxy political party”, Abdullah said in an apparent reference to the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party.
The trends show that the people have not accepted the government’s unilateral decision of revoking the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, and downgrading it to a Union Territory, the NC leader said. Abdullah, who is a former chief minister, said that the results and trends are an “important milestone” for the PAGD as they endorse “our view” that revoking of special status was not acceptable to the people. “Now if the BJP and its proxy political party believe in democracy, as they have stated, they should immediately reverse its decision (abrogation of special status) and respect the verdict of the people of this region,” he said. Abdullah said that the BJP had flown in a number of Union ministers and central leaders to campaign for the DDC elections. “The BJP is the one which turned these elections as a referendum of its policy of 2019. I hope they have understood the desire of the people,” he said. The NC leader said that the PAGD, comprising seven mainstream political parties of Jammu & Kashmir, had made its stand very clear to the people and also that the alliance would seek all democratic and legal measures to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir as well as its special status. “We were not allowed to campaign much but still people showed that they could not be swayed away by the campaign launched by the BJP and its support party,” he said. The NC and the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP are among the constituents of the PAGD.