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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday reiterated the right to statehood for J-K and said that if the Bharatiya Janata Party is worried about the Jammu and Kashmir then they should talk about the statehood.
"The BJP should talk about the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir if they are so worried about the state. Let's not expect them to do anything else. This is our special status, which is our constitutional guarantee, whatever they contested in the Assembly and opposed it. When the resolution came, the Assembly passed it.," Omar Abdullah said. In November last year, the Legislative Assembly passed a resolution demanding the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370. The resolution was opposed by the BJP, which holds 29 seats in the assembly. Earlier today, Omar Abdullah Mentioning that the Supreme Court has said to restore the statehood "as soon as possible," CM Abdullah stated that one year is enough for this "as soon as possible." Addressing a press conference, the Chief Minister said, "We have been in power for more than 2 months now. It took us some time to understand the functioning of a government in a UT... It was easier than anticipated... We stand by the promises we made before the elections because of which people gave us the mandate to form the government... It will be important to us to change the status of J&K. I hope that the status of UT is a temporary phase for J&K." "The people of J&K participated in the assembly elections in good numbers and they should get something. The central government had promised to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir and we hope it will not take much time. One year ago, even the Supreme Court in its verdict had said that statehood of Jammu and Kashmir should be restored as soon as possible. Now that a year has been completed so we believe that 1 year is enough for this 'as soon as possible'. We are here to serve people and fulfil their expectations of development and governance...." he added. Notably, the restoration of Article 370, the reinstatement of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood, and the implementation of the autonomy resolution were key promises in the National Conference's manifesto for the Jammu and Kashmir elections. The first session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, which concluded on November 8, also witnessed uproar over the issue of Article 370. (ANI)
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