Rift between J&K CM, Srinagar MP widens

Though NC spokesperson plays down Mehdi’s walkout from working committee meeting, the latter’s couplet on social media highlights differences with party leadership

All doesn’t seem well between Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and National Conference (NC) MP from Srinagar Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah (HT File)

While the NC denied that Mehdi had walked out of the party’s working body meeting last week, the sarcastic poetry posted by him on X smacks of defiance by the outspoken MP. “Either rise and become such a ‘sukhanvar’ (orator/poet/speaker) who serves a purpose for the nation; Or sit in the comfort of the ‘zanpaan’ (palanquin),” he posted in translation of a Kashmiri couplet.

Mehdi posted the couplet hours after NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar criticised an online portal for reporting that the MP had walked out of the working committee meeting after an argument with Abdullah last Wednesday.

“Shameful that a reputable outlet would publish such a planted story without cross-checking with the party. Contrary to false claims, Aga Ruhullah did not walk out of the meeting — in fact, he was present from morning till evening,” Nabi said.

According to reports, Mehdi was upset with the party toning down its promise of struggling for the restoration of Article 370 and cosying up to the Centre. Abdullah had retorted that Mehdi should fight the byelection and be part of the government.

Mehdi feels that his party has not lived up to the manifesto on which it won the election last year. “We feel that there is a gap between what people want and what these political parties represent. This is a language that comes from Delhi. It is not the language of people of Jammu and Kashmir. We were on the same page. I feel lost after the elections. We are somehow justifying the narrative we fought against. We are defeating the reason for which we got the mandate,” Mehdi said in an interview, the clip of which he uploaded on X on Friday.

“Until the assembly elections, my opinions mattered. Even if the party disagreed with my methods, it supported my ideas. But after the reservation protest, the party has stopped engaging with me,” Mehdi had said in April.