National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said that he will vacate his government accommodation in Srinagar before the end of October. In a post on Twitter, Abdullah shared his letter to the Jammu and Kashmir administration that he wrote in July.
“Consequent upon the change of entitlements for former CMs of J&K some months ago, I now find myself in unauthorised occupation of this accommodation, as no attempt has been made to regularise the allotment to me on security or other grounds,” the letter read. “This is a situation that is unacceptable to me. I have never held on to any government property I was not entitled to and I have no intention to start now.”
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister added that he had started the search for a suitable alternate accommodation. He added that he intended to leave the house in eight to 10 weeks.
Abdullah was allotted the accommodation in Gupkar Road in 2002 when he was an MP from Srinagar. He said that he used the premises and the adjoining house as the official chief ministerial residence from October 2010 to January 2015 when he left the office.
BJP-RSS playing ‘communal politics’: Farooq Abdullah
Meanwhile, National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were indulging in communal politics.
“If anybody is playing communal politics today, it is BJP and RSS,” Farooq Abdullah said, according to PTI. “We have never played this game. They are playing and they will sink in this game.” He made the remarks on the sidelines of an event held to pay tributes to his father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on his 38th death anniversary.
The National Conference chief was replying to comments from BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav saying “Gupkar leaders are resorting to that dangerous game once again, this time in the name of Islam”.
Farooq Abdullah claimed that his party had never resorted to using religion as a political tool. “Never...it is our history,” he said. “What was the slogan of Sher-e-Kashmir (Sheikh Abdullah)? He said there was unity among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Wasn’t it?”
Almost all of the Kashmir Valley’s political leadership, including three former chief ministers – Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti – were put under house arrest before the August 5, 2019, decision.
Omar Abdullah was released seven months later on March 24 after the Jammu and Kashmir administration revoked his detention order under the Public Safety Act. Farooq Abdullah was released on March 13. People’s Conference chief Sajjad Lone was formally released on July 31. However, Mehbooba Mufti remains in detention.
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