Come clean on Article 370,Omar Abdullah tells BJP

The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “speaking in different voices” on Article 370 of the Indian constitution that guarantees “special status” to state and said his party National Conference won’t work with people who want to abolish the state’s identity.
“They (BJP) can’t speak in one voice. In Jammu they talk about abrogating Article 370 and in Kashmir their members say they will pick up guns if the Article is revoked. The Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) says to revoke the Article 370 is their national issue…,” Omar, who is the National Conference’s working president, told a rally here, after filing his nomination papers from this Assembly constituency.
He asked BJP to “please speak in one voice (on Article 370)…I am sure once the Prime Minister comes here, things will become clearer,” said Omar as people responded with cheers.
Thousands of National Conference supporters held road-shows here and chanted pro-Omar slogans as the Chief Minister filed the nomination. Last month, Omar quit his family fort,
Ganderbal constituency, to contest the upcoming polls from here and Sonwar constituency in Srinagar.
Clad in a traditional Pheran, Omar said State’s own flag and Article 370 were the identity of Jammu and Kashmir. “We can’t shake hands with people who want to bring down this flag and revoke article 370,” said Omar. J&K has its own constitution and its own flag and shares relationship with Union of India via Article 370.
“BJP talks about winning hearts of our people but the fact remains that they have never accepted our flag, our special status, our identity and our political sentiments. First accept our flag and our political sentiments and then talk about winning hearts and minds,” Omar said.
In the run-up to the Assembly elections, the BJP has reiterated its “commitment” to abrogate Article 370 apart from “removing obstacles hampering state’s complete integration with rest of the country.”
‘COULDN’T SELL MY ACHIEVEMENTS’:
Omar said his “biggest shortcoming” has been that “whatever I did for people for past six years I couldn’t sell it “.
The Chief Minister who is nearing the end of his tenure talked about his government’s decision to get back Tosamaidan meadow from the Army – the move which his party is hoping would fetch votes for Omar in the elections. The Tosamaidan meadow, which is located here, was leased out to the Army by the State government more than five decades ago. The lease was subsequently extended by successive governments.
“It was not an ordinary decision to take back Tosamaidan… They (PDP) forget they were the people who handed the meadow to Army for 10 years on lease and then kept mum,” Omar said. “But when I got it back I didn’t beat drums. No there will be no sounds of bullets and there will be no army camps but hotels and restaurants in the meadow.”
“This is what you mean by working silently.” Omar said.
Omar said he stood firm on his stand to create new administrative units in J&K to the extent that he was ready to put in his papers following opposition by the Congress. “I made it a point to allocate a subdivision, two Tehsils, three blocks and Niabats to Beerwah,” said Omar.
‘DIDN’T RUN FROM GANDERBAL’:
To a question, Omar said he didn’t run from Ganderbal to fight elections from other constituencies. “I didn’t run away from Ganderbal. I left Ganderbal with my dignity intact as an MLA on the back of a victory and not on the back of a defeat. I have don’t tremendous development work there, but now is the time for Ganderbal to elect somebody else,” Omar said.
He said time had come for him to focus his attention for developing other areas. “Give me one chance. I am asking for only six years and I assure you I will lay a network of development here,” Omar said as people responded in affirmative.
ON ELECTIONS:
Asked whether National Conference could ally with BJP post-polls, Omar said he was contesting elections to win a mandate on his own.
“While there is some Modi influence in Jammu and Ladakh, I am yet to see anything in Kashmir,” Omar responded to another question
HITS OUT AT CONG, PDP:
Lashing out at Congress, Omar said their coalition partner in the Government has been taking credit for all good works done by his government but they blame National Conference for the wrongs.
“When I was seeking vote for Rahul Gandhi in last parliament election, that time you (Congress) didn’t find any fault with National Conference but today when we are fighting election for ourselves, you find all faults with us,” Omar said.
Taking a dig at opposition PDP, Omar said the party has become a “safe haven for thieves and thugs”. “An official of task force was garlanded by them and then they issued a statement, mentioning him as senior leader. Suddenly we saw party disowning him. This is the politics of deceit they play,” Omar said.