Omar Abdullah meets Sitharaman, discusses steps to reduce dependency on Centre

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed the economic and financial progress with a focus to generate revenues so as to reduce dependency on the Centre, officials said.

The meeting assumes significance as the National Conference-led government is likely to present its first budget after the end of six years of central rule.

In a remarkable victory in the recent assembly polls in the Union territory, the first in 10 years, Abdullah’s NC won 42 of the 90 assembly seats. Omar and five of his cabinet colleagues took oath on October 16.

In a post on X, the National Conference put out a picture of Sitharaman and Abdullah exchanging greetings after the meeting.

“Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah called upon the Union Cabinet Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs. The discussion revolved around economic and financial progress of Jammu & Kashmir,” NC said on X.

The officials termed the meeting “very positive” and said the chief minister discussed J&K’s financial position and the measures to generate revenues so as to reduce the dependency on the Union government.

Abdullah also talked about the need to invest in infrastructure and connectivity, they said, adding “this will allow J&K to improve as an investment destination.”

The focus of the chief minister during the meeting was to generate employment and investment, especially in areas like tourism, agriculture and horticulture.

Abdullah on Thursday called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and a day earlier met Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

This was the second tour of Abdullah to New Delhi after taking over as the first chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir post August 2019 development when the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union territories and its special status under Article 370 was revoked.

In the second last week of October, the chief minister had separate meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Power Minister Manohar Lal. (PTI)