Jammu and Kashmir elections: J-K administration does not want to handover power to people again: Omar Abdullah

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration of sabotaging the conduct of assembly polls in the union territory saying the current dispensation wants to continue to rule like uncrowned kingsWe wanted simultaneous elections along with Lok Sabha elections But it did not happen The current government of Jammu and Kashmir sabotaged that because they do not want to handover the power to the people again They are ruling like uncrowned kings Abdullah told reporters here after kickingoff the partys election campaign for AnantnagRajouri Parliamentary constituencyEarlier addressing party workers at Damhal Hanjipora in the south Kashmir district here the NC leader said bureaucrats put hurdles in holding the assembly elections as they were getting spoiled in JKThe hurdles in holding the assembly elections were put by our officers by saying that they cannot make adequate security arrangementsYou yourself say that the situation is better normalcy has been restored that there is no danger of guns nowIf there is no danger of guns then you will not need much security deployment and if you do not need then you should have held elections The reality is that they are getting spoiled he saidThe former JK chief minister however said the Election Commission has to hold the assembly polls before the Supreme Courts deadline of September 30 this year which the top court gave while passing its order after hearing a batch of petitions challenging the revocation of Article 370We thank God that they will have to conclude elections here before September 30 according to the SC The chief election commissioner has also said that polls will be held before the deadline he addedAsked to comment on the opposition parties complaining about EVMs Abdullah said even if he complains against the use of EVMs in the elections they will still be used because the ECI is not ready to use paper ballots againSo we will have to keep our agents alert and not allow any tampering with them he saidTo a query on the CAA the NC leader said CAA is not just against Muslims as there are many other minorities who have been kept outside its purviewThis is BJPs old habit and they will not mend their ways he addedIn reply to a question over the status of the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration PAGD Abdullah said the alliance standsWhat has happened to its status We run our different parties We have held press conferences together as well as individually And today I am talking to you individually does that mean there is no PAGD It stands and they will meet in a day or two he saidAsked whether the partys Gujjar leader Mian Altaf Ahmad would be the NCs candidate for the constituency Abdullah said they will announce candidates at an appropriate timeAltaf has attended whenever party has invited him He is our party colleague and it is not something new for him to attend our programmes and he will continue doing so There are many leaders present here and it does not mean anything I have said we will announce our candidates at the right time But we have started campaigning from today he saidThe NC vice president the BJPs motive to undertake delimitation of Parliamentary constituencies in JK was to divide and ruleThe delimitation was undertaken in a similar manner like the Britishs divide and rule That is what is being done here Kashmir is being made to fight with Jammu Hindus with Muslims Gujjars with Paharis the aim is to succeed on the south Kashmir seat anyhow But people are not fools They know the BJPs approach in the rest of the country he saidOn the Electoral bonds row he said while the BJP was paid a whopping amount of around Rs 6900 crore his party got only Rs 50 lakhOne of my friends Airtel gave us a Rs 50 lakh bond to run the party It is Rs 50 lakh versus Rs 6900 crore there is no comparison But only those need to use money who do not have the support of the people The sum of Rs 50 lakh is enough for us because people of JK are with NC Abdullah saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever