In a big boost to the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, 4 independent MLAs extended support to Omar Abdullah’s party on Thursday, making it reach the majority mark without the Congress.
With the allegiance of 4 independents, the NC now has the support of 46 lawmakers which is the majority mark in the 90-member house. Therefore, now, Omar Abdullah does not have to get the support of Congress to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Omar Abdullah is set to be the new Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir after being unanimously elected as the leader of the legislature party.
The decision to elect Omar Abdullah as the leader was taken in a meeting held at the NC headquarters at the 'Nawa-e-Subha' complex in Srinagar city on Thursday. And the party will soon stake its claim to the UT's top post.
"I have been elected as the leader of the Legislature Party," announces Omar Abdullah
JKNC vice president Omar Abdullah in a statement to the media, soon after the meeting ended said, "Today in the meeting of the National Conference Legislature Party, I have been elected as the leader of the Legislature Party. I express my gratitude to the MLAs. Talks are going on to get the letter of support from the Congress. 4 independent MLAs have also extended their support to the National Conference. Now the number of NC is 42 plus 4 independent MLAs. After receiving the letter from Congress, we will go to the Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the government."
NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah, Vice President Omar Abdullah, senior leaders of the party and recently elected MLAs were present in the meeting.
Farooq Abdullah had already told the media immediately after the election results for the J&K Legislative Assembly were announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that Omar Abdullah would be the new chief minister of J&K.
The NC Vice President said on Wednesday that the first business of the J&K cabinet would be to pass a resolution for the restoration of statehood. "It should be the first business of the cabinet to pass a resolution asking the Centre to restore statehood to J&K. The Chief Minister should then travel to Delhi with the resolution and ask the government to restore our statehood."
He said this was promised by the Prime Minister, Home Minister and others. "Nowhere did they say that statehood would be restored only to a government that has BJP members," he said. The NC leader added that his party would not give up its demand for the restoration of Article 370. "Our stand on this will never change," he asserted.
This will be the second time for Omar Abdullah to become the Chief Minister. He was first elected in 2009 as Chief Minister of J&K state at the age of 38 years. Now, he will be the CM of the J&K UT.
The NC has won 42, BJP 29, Congress six, PDP three, CPI(M) one, Peoples Conference one, Aam Aadmi Party one and Independents seven seats in the 98-member J&K Legislative Assembly. The Lt. Governor will nominate five members on the recommendations of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
