Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took a jibe at people who maintained distance from him for the past five years while his political future was perhaps 'uncertain'.
“They though I am finished, I need to take a different path. People who didn’t even respond to my greetings for 5 years do not get tired of texting me," Omar is heard saying in Urdu while adressing a meeting of party workers in Srinagar on Saturday.
Omar was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on October 16. The UT has got its first elected government in six years.
Jammu and Kashmir has been under Central rule since June 2018, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its support from its coalition government with the Mehbooba's People's Democratic Party (PDP).
The assembly elections, first after abrogation of Article 370, were held in Jammu and Kashmir in three phases – September 18, 25 and October 1.
Omar lost 2024 Lok Sabha election to jailed Engineer Rashid from Baramulla seat following which many analysts had written him off politically. But Omar and his party National Conference (NC) made a comeback in recent assembly elections the results were announced on October 18. While NC-Congress won the majority in the 90-member house, the BJP also increased its seats from 25 in 2014 to 29 in 2024.
Omar won both seats – Badgam and Ganderbal – that he contested in the assembly polls.
“When I wake up in the morning, my phone is full of ‘Good Morning Sir' messages. At 1 pm people want to know if I had lunch for lunch. At 8 pm they want to know about what I had for dinner and then the ‘Good night’ message at 10 pm," Omar said adding that the victory shouldn't make the party workers complacent.
In the first term, Omar was the chief minister between January 5, 2009 and January 8, 2015. However, much has changed in the region since his first tenure – Article 370 Jammu and Kashmir stands abrogated and Jammu and Kashmir is downgraded from a state to a Union Territory.
