India
Constitutionally wrong for LG to appoint MLAs, Omar to be weakest CM: Owaisi
New Delhi: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednewsday asserted that Omar Abdullah will become the weakest chief minister in India’s history after winning the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election.
He questioned the role of the chief minister once the Lieutenant Governor nominates five members to the Legislative Assembly, which currently has 90 elected members, as reported by Times of India.
Owaisi expressed his opposition to the bill abolishing Article 370, stating, “My party has opposed the bill to abolish Article 370. The bill allows the LG to appoint five MLAs, which I believe is constitutionally wrong. If the sitting CM cannot appoint an MLA, but the LG, appointed by the PM, can, then what is the role of the CM? Omar Abdullah will be the weakest CM ever in Indian history.”
He said that the people of Kashmir have demonstrated their anger toward the abolition of Article 370 and have given a decisive verdict on the matter. Owaisi remarked that the BJP’s attempt to divide the Pahadis and the Gujjars failed, noting that the BJP won 27 seats in Jammu while Congress secured only one seat. In the recent election, the NC-Congress alliance won 49 seats, compared to the BJP’s 29.
Earlier, Omar Abdullah stated that restoring statehood for Jammu and Kashmir is the only promise left unfulfilled by the governmnent of India and drew parallels to Delhi’s situation.
He said, “There is a difference between Delhi and us. Delhi was never a full state, and nobody ever promised to make it one. J&K was a state before 2019, and restoration of statehood has been promised to us. The PM, home minister, and senior BJP ministers have reiterated this promise, stating that three steps will be taken in J&K: delimitation, election, and then statehood.”
He added, “Delimitation and elections have been completed; now only statehood remains. After the government is formed here, I hope the cabinet’s first decision will be to pass a resolution for statehood, which will then be presented to the PM.”
