Srinagar: The newly sworn-in Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of the Union Territory will be travelling to New Delhi with a resolution demanding statehood to Jammu and Kashmir from the centre.
The resolution was passed in a maiden cabinet meeting helmed by Abdullah alongside his five ministers at the civil secretariat in Srinagar here on Friday.
A source confirmed to ETV Bharat that the cabinet passed a resolution for statehood saying the draft is being readied.
“All the ministers unanimously supported the resolution for statehood,” added the source.
There was no official word over the cabinet meeting with another source privy to the details saying the official statement may be released later.
Abdullah assumed the charge of CM on October 16 and has five cabinet ministers in his government. This includes three including his deputy from Jammu and two from Kashmir.
The restoration of statehood is a key issue for the Abdullah led government after the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state was downgraded and bifurcated into two union territories in August 2019.
“In the next few days, the Chief Minister will meet PM(Prime Minister) Modi and present the resolution apart from other issues,” the source said.
It will be the first formal meeting of Abdullah as the J&K chief minister with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Last time, he alongside his father and the former Member of Parliaments Farooq Abdullah and Hasnain Masoodi met the Prime Minister days before the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
The meeting assumes significance as the Bharatiya Janata Party led central government has promised restoration of statehood. Previously, both PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have promised statehood without citing a deadline.
Interestingly, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea seeking restoration of the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The application was filed by academician Zahoor Ahmad and Khurshid Malik.
Omar is optimistic the Union Territory will be temporary and Jammu and Kashmir will regain statehood again.
But the ruling party’s political opponents have started doubting the cabinet move terming it ratification of abrogation of Article 370.
Says Peoples Democratic Party leader and legislator Waheed Para, “Omar Abdullah's first resolution on statehood is nothing less than ratification of the August 5th, 2019 decision. No resolution on Article 370 and scaling down the demand to mere statehood is a huge setback, especially after seeking votes on the promise of restoring Article 370.”
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