The father-son duo of ruling National Conference (NC) in Jammu & Kashmir — Union Minister Farooq Abdullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah — have expressed their wish that Narendra Modi should not become the next Prime Minister of India.
The NC is part of the UPA and has a pre-poll alliance with the Congress for the parliamentary elections. The leaders fired anti-Modi salvo in central district Budgam shortly after the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate held a public rally at Hiranagar in Jammu.
“I hope BJP won’t win. I do believe there will be a definite wave against Modi and the media calculations about him would prove wrong,” senior Abdullah told reporters after he addressed party workers. “Modi is a dictator. That’s the one word I would use for him. The dictator has shown his colours by parting ways from senior party leaders like Jaswant Singh”, he said.
Farooq sought to dismiss Modi’s allegation that NC and the Congress perpetuate dynasty rule. “It is the people who choose candidates,” he said. Helping his father to explain more on the issue, Omar Abdullah intervened, “let him (Modi) start from Yashwant Sinha’s son and lots of other leaders. let him start from Punjab with Akali Dal and also with the Shiv Sena”.
“He (Modi) should first end the dynasty rule of his allies then level allegations against others. There is a saying, that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others’ houses”, Omar said philosophically.
The Chief Minister said that his Gujarat counterpart has developed a habit of travelling in air and talking in air. “He comes for one hour and goes back. How can he see the development done by usIJ He should travel with us and we will show him the development we have done in J&K,” Omar said.
Meanwhile, Farooq Abdullah said there was not an iota of doubt in nexus between Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the BJP. “The PDP is gearing up to sit with Modi and his team,” he said. He said that during his lifetime it was not possible for anybody to trample with the Article 370 that serves as a bridge between the State and the Centre.
Farooq Abdullah is contesting parliamentary election from Srinagar-Budgam constituency. Even as the BJP and Narendra Modi factor is not vital in Kashmir Valley, the NC leaders are discussing him to counter the archrivals PDP, which has developed proximity with the NDA. The separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed have praised NDA for its initiatives on Kashmir and blamed the UPA for relegating the issue to backburner.