National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah met the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, on Friday evening to stake a claim to form the government.
“I met the Lieutenant Governor (LG) and handed him letters of support from Congress, Independents, and CPI(M),” Omar said after emerging from Raj Bhavan in Srinagar.
JKNC Chief Ministerial candidate @OmarAbdullah addresses the Press after meeting with the @OfficeOfLGJandK at Raj Bhavan. pic.twitter.com/kCBuYlFESq
— JKNC (@JKNC_) October 11, 2024
“I requested him to set a date as soon as possible for the oath-taking so the people's government can start working,” he added.
He mentioned that the oath-taking process will take time since this is not a government replacement in a state, but in a Union Territory (UT) setup.
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“The LG will send the required documents to the Centre, and it will take a few days,” he said. “The oath ceremony could happen on Tuesday or Wednesday,” Abdullah added.
Regarding the invitation to India Alliance members for the oath-taking ceremony, Omar said it would be handled by NC president Farooq Abdullah.
“I will handle invitations for individuals I want to invite personally,” he said.
On Congress handing over the letter of support to NC for government formation, he said, “We have received the letter of support from Congress, and they had a meeting in which they decided to elect their CLP (Congress Legislative Party) leader.”
He also said they discussed internal matters with Congress. Regarding independents joining the NC, he clarified that these are individuals from NC who contested as Independents because the party couldn’t give them tickets due to alliance constraints with Congress.
We welcomed them, and it is my responsibility to support them as they seek development in their areas, he said.
Meanwhile, on concerns about Jammu being ignored, Omar stated, “There’s no such thing. No region will be ignored.” He also avoided a direct answer regarding the Deputy Chief Minister position, saying, “Leave the matter to us.”
Earlier, JKPCC chief Tariq Karra met the NC leaders at their residence and handed over the letter of support from the party.
Karra met the NC leaders after attending a meeting of Congress leaders in Srinagar. After the meeting, he said, "We held a meeting of the CLP today, where we unanimously agreed to allow the central leadership to choose our CLP leader. A resolution was passed, and it has been forwarded to our central leadership. We have also created a letter of support to extend to the NC for forming the government, and we will soon submit it to their office."
