Omar, Mehbooba ‘Praise’ Governor For Not Taking Instructions From Delhi Over Govt Formation In Jammu And Kashmir

Srinagar: Former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday ‘praised’ governor Satya Pal Malik for dissolving the state assembly and “stopping BJP and its proxies to form government” in the state.

While National Conference Omar “complimented” Malik “for not looking to Delhi and for not taking their instructions thereby stopping the installation of a government of the BJP and its proxies,” Mehbooba called the governor’s step as “unprecedented”.

“I really don’t know what to make of Governor Sb revelations in Gwalior. We know the BJP & its proxies were desperate to form a government through horse trading & use of money but we’ve also never known a politically appointed governor going against the wishes of the centre,” Omar wrote on Twitter.

Omar added: “My compliments to Governor Malik for not looking to Delhi & for not taking their instructions thereby stopping the installation of a government of the BJP & its proxies formed by horse trading, defections & use of money.”

Taking to Twitter, Mehbooba said: “Leaving aside the fax machine fiasco, good to see that governor Sb refused to take dictation from Delhi , rather opted for dissolution of assembly. This could be unprecedented, given the story of democracy in the state.”

The reactions of former J&K chief ministers came after Malik’s remark that Sajad Lone would have become chief minister of the state had he sought the opinion of New Delhi before dissolving the legislative assembly.

“I want to reiterate it that I would have had to form a government of Sajad Lone had I looked up to New Delhi but I didn’t want to go down in the history as a dishonest man,” he said in an address to the students at a university function in Gwalior.

Malik said he feared that horse-trading might have taken place to form the government and that it could have led to “killings and chaos in Kashmir.”