Omar Abdullah, the recently elected chief minister of J&K, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday during his maiden trip to New Delhi following his oath.
According to reports, Omar informed Modi that the newly elected legislature had passed a resolution granting J&K full sovereignty and asked the Centre for assistance in ensuring the smooth operation of the UT administration.
According to sources, Omar also gave his Cabinet’s decision from last week, which called for the Centre to reinstate J&K’s statehood “in its original form.”
Omar also met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and is learnt to have discussed the security situation. Singh posted on X: “Met with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Shri @OmarAbdullah in New Delhi. The NDA Govt under PM Shri @narendramodi is looking forward to working with him for J&K’s progress.”
A source close to the minister said, “The meeting lasted for about 20-25 minutes. It was a courtesy meeting. He (Omar) hadn’t come with any specific demand. It was largely to seek the government’s support in smooth functioning of the new government in J&K. There was a general discussion on security but nothing specific.”
According to sources, Omar gave the PM a Kashmiri shawl and a bouquet during their about 30-minute encounter.
Omar had similar talks with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday. It has been reported that all of the leaders promised him the Center’s assistance in bringing about growth in the UT.
The Cabinet, led by Omar Abdullah, unanimously adopted a resolution last week calling for the restoration of J&K’s statehood “in its original form,” marking the first action of the newly-formed administration. When the first meeting was scheduled, this was the first item on the agenda.
L-G Manoj Sinha then gave his approval to the resolution. According to a government statement released on Saturday, “the restoration of statehood will be the beginning of a healing process, reclaiming the constitutional rights and protecting identity of people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
