Hry, Mah results will not effect J&K polls: Omar

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said the election results in Haryana and Maharashtra are unlikely to impact the poll outcome in the Valley.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said the election results in Haryana and Maharashtra are unlikely to impact the poll outcome in the Valley.

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Speaking to media on the sidelines of a function, he refused to call the BJP 'unstoppable'.

"Calling them unstoppable would be an exaggeration, they have done well but not as well as they had expected. If you compare BJP's Parliament results in Haryana and BJP-Shiv Sena results in Parliament (polls) till now, they haven't translated Parliament results into Assembly results in those states," Abdullah said.

"In Haryana they just about managed to cross the half way mark, in Maharashtra they need to go back and eat a little humble pie. They were talking about making a government on their own and are now forced to
look for partners," he added.

Abdullah said that the BJP will have an impact in the assembly election but not as 'much as was expected earlier.'

Out of the six parliamentary seats, the BJP had managed to get three in the Hindu majority Jammu division, while the PDP had swept all three in the Valley. The NC-Congress drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls and even the big names which included two former union ministers - Ghulam Nabi Azad and Farooq Abdullah lost their seats.

The loss was the first election defeat for Farooq Abdullah in his political career. The coalition had fought the Lok Sabha elections on 'anti-Modi' sentiment in the Valley but got a drubbing.

Abdullah and his party National Conference has publically made its stand clear that holding elections in December will affect the relief and rehabilitation work.

On Tuesday, however, he asked the state police to be ready for their role in the coming elections as elections are likely to be held soon.

While addressing the police jawans on Police Commemoration Day, Abdullah asked policemen to create a sense of security among the voters during the assembly elections. "We cannot compel the voters to cast their votes by force, but we have also to see that they are not kept away from the polling booths by force", he said, he asked the police department to be apolitical in rendering their service.

"Let the voters decide who wins and who loses,'' he said, adding "it's not my decision to choose the timing for elections, it's for the Election Commission to decide the time. If the EC says we have to do it now, we will be part of it but as a party the National Conference has made its stand clear''.

'Organisers should choose Valley for Million March'

Omar Abdullah said the organisers of 'Million March' in London this weekend should have held the event in the Valley rather than the cozy capitals of the United States and United Kingdom to highlight the Kashmir issue.

"I have no problem in these people propounding an ideology, but it would be better doing it from here rather than cozy environs of London, Washington, Paris and places like that," Abdullah said.

He, however, maintained it is "the domain of Ministry of External Affairs to react to the issue" as his "government is busy dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods in the state."

"It is a fact that the further these people get away from Kashmir, the more involved they get in Kashmir's politics. (They should) come to Kashmir, live here and then do it," he said.

Omar said he had "far more respect" for the separatist leaders in the Valley who organise such rallies here and then face the consequences of the law.