Er Rashid calls for keeping govt formation on hold to press for statehood restoration | India News – Times of India

SRINAGAR: Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) chief and Baramulla MP Engineer Sheikh Abdur Rashid Monday appealed to opposition parties and independents to put govt formation on hold in Jammu and Kashmir after the poll results on Tuesday, to put pressure on the Centre to restore statehood.
“Irrespective of who gets the majority tomorrow, my humble request to the INDIA bloc, PDP and other regional parties is that they should unite for statehood.They should not form a govt till statehood is restored,” Rashid told reporters, adding that AIP would extend full support to them on this issue.
Responding to the suggestion, National Conference vice-president and former CM Omar Abdullah said the AIP chief was playing into BJP’s hands. “The man (Rashid) goes to Delhi for 24 hours and comes back to play straight into the hands of BJP. BJP would like nothing more than to extend central rule in J&K if they aren’t in a position to form a govt,” he said in a post on X.
During the campaigning, Omar and NC had repeatedly accused Rashid’s party of being a BJP proxy.
Er Rashid, when asked which party would AIP support in case of BJP securing a majority in Jammu and NC in Kashmir, said his priority wasn’t govt formation, but only safeguarding J&K’s interests.
He also lashed out at the power given to the LG to nominate five members to the assembly, saying the move was “challenging the very idea of BJP and PM Narendra Modi: Ek Vidhan, Ek Nishan, Ek Pradhan”.
When the Modi govt took away Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in Aug 2019, claiming it would complete its integration with India, why was a special provision for nominations to the elected legislature introduced in J&K, when it did not exist anywhere else in the country, he asked.
He also demanded restoration of the practice of darbar move, he said people of both regions (Jammu and Kashmir) were suffering due to its abolition.
Objecting to J&K House in Delhi being reserved exclusively for the people of Ladakh, the MP raised questions over the distribution of the erstwhile state’s properties in Delhi and rest of the country, between the UTs of J&K and Ladakh. Citing the huge population difference between the two regions, he sought to know the criteria used for division of assets.