BJP won't allow assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir now: Omar Abdullah on Karnataka election results

Omar's statement came as Congress achieved a sweeping victory in the Karnataka assembly election by defeating the ruling Basavaraj Bommai government in the state.

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): As the Congress beat the ruling BJP in Karnataka, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah took a jibe at the saffron party he said will not allow Assembly elections in the centrally governed union territory any time soon.

“Now there is no way BJP will have the courage to allow Assembly elections to take place in J&K any time soon,” Omar wrote in a pointed Twitter post on Saturday. The statement by the former Jammu and Kashmir came as Congress achieved a sweeping victory in the Karnataka assembly election by defeating the ruling Basavaraj Bommai government in the state.

The Congress won 136 seats while the BJP stood second with 65 seats, down by 37 seats from the figures of 2018 assembly election. Pertinently, while speaking at a party function in Anantnag district of south Kashmir, Omar had said that the Election Commission was working "on the signals of the central government" stating that the BJP did not have the "courage" to face the people, so the polls were not being conducted in the Union Territory.

Non-BJP leaders in Jammu and Kashmir have been demanding restoration of the electoral process as the union territory awaits an elected government since Aug, 5, 2019 when the BJP government at the centre revoked the special status of the erstwhile state under the Article 370 and bifurcated it into the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.

Meanwhile former Jammu and Kashmir CM and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti congratulated the Congress for the Karnataka win hoping that it was the “start of a new beginning for India”. She also targeted the BJP for the “most vicious communal campaign” in the election. “Congratulations to Indian National Congress for sweeping Karnataka. Wasn’t easy given that BJP unleashed the most vicious communal campaign. The people of Karnataka have rejected division and bigotry. I hope this is the start of a new beginning for India,” Mehbooba wrote in a Twitter post.