Omar Abdullah slams Mehbooba Mufti, Sajjad Lone for staying silent on reservation

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday hit out at PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone for not speaking up about reservation in recruitment when they had the chance.

 

 

Speaking to reporters about the Cabinet Sub-Committee on reservations, "Omar said that when Mehbooba Mufti needed votes, she stopped her party leaders from even talking about reservation. “She was contesting elections from Anantnag and needed support from Rajouri and Poonch too. Why didn’t she raise the issue of reservation then?” he said.

 

 

He also targeted Sajjad Lone, saying he remained close to the government for five years but never spoke up. “While we were thrown out of government houses and our security was cut, Sajjad Lone was living in a government house. Why didn’t he say anything about reservation at that time?”

 

 

Defending his own government, Omar said his govt completed the reservation report in just six months. “If I wanted to delay, I could have easily taken six more months. No one could have forced me to do it faster”. He added that the Cabinet has accepted the report and sent it to the law department for review.

 

 

Omar also strongly opposed a proposal to send water from Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan through a 113-km canal. “I will never allow this. We are already facing water shortage in Jammu. Why should we give our water to Punjab? They already get water under the Indus Water Treaty. Did they ever help us when we needed water?” he said.