Srinagar, May 8 (IANS) J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader in the UT Assembly of playing the “politics of revenge”.

Talking to reporters here, Abdullah alleged that the Leader of Opposition (LOP) Sunil Sharma is waiting to somehow get the Chief Minister’s chair in J&K.

Replying to a question about the statement made by Sharma that there could be defections in the ruling National Conference (NC), he said: “The LOP should remember that elections are not going to be held here before 2029″ and that “there are no Eknath Shindes in the National Conference. Nobody is going to the party”. His reference was to the senior Shiv Sena leader who split the party and led to the downfall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in Maharashtra.

Abdullah said the people must understand the intentions of the BJP by Sharma’s statement. “Eknath Shinde left because the BJP helped him leave the party. People must understand the intentions of the BJP through the statement made by the LOP.”

He added that “we have already suffered enough at their hands”.

“The delimitation was done here only with the intention of helping the BJP and its supporters. They are threatening the people over the statehood issue. They don’t appear to have any intention to give statehood to J&K. Cabinet expansion here is not being done because they haven’t given us the statehood, and there is no truth to the rumour that we are afraid of defections and that is why cabinet expansion is delayed,” he asserted.

To a question on the Tamil Nadu situation, he said that there is no reason for the imposition of President’s rule in the southern state.

“TVK’s Vijay, as the leader of the largest party in Tamil Nadu, should be invited to form the government. If he cannot then prove his majority in the Assembly, he will resign,” Abdullah said.

He recalled that Atal Bihari Vajpayee was invited to form the government at the Centre by the President in 1996 as leader of the single-largest party. “When he was not able to prove his numbers in the Lok Sabha, that government fell after 13 days.”

“Why is a different yardstick being used for Tamil Naidu because the BJP failed to get the numbers in the elections there?” he asked.

–IANS

sq/vd