Ruling out differences with their ally, the Congress, the National Conference on Wednesday said there was no proposal for a rotational chief minister's post in J&K. The NC reiterated their stand saying Omar Abdullah will continue in the post for the full six year term.
"When I met Congress president Sonia Gandhi before the formation of the coalition government in the state, it was made clear by both parties that there would be no no rotational chief ministerhip in the state," 40 year old Omar, who began his third year in office, told a press conference.
He said the "Congress high command has hailed our performance." Endorsing Omar's view, his father and NC chief Farooq Abdullah said, "Omar would be there for full six-year period". "I, as the then President of NC, and President of INC Sonia Gandhi discussed the issue threadbare and made it clear that there will be no rotational Chief Minister in the state," Abdullah said.
Replying to a volley of questions, Omar said that any other statement on the subject "can be seen as an individual view of that person but it will have no bearing on the decision taken by the NC and Congress high command".
"You cannot stop people from saying all these things. That does not mean coalition is in trouble," Abdullah said. "With one voice I say that there is no change in the mind of central leadership of Congress," he said. "Please don't react to the statements from local quarters. I told my brother (NC leader Mustafa Kamal) a hundred times that stop all these statements. But some people are just misleading him," the NC chief, who is also Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, said.
"You cannot stop people from saying all these things. That does not mean coalition is in trouble," Abdullah said. "With one voice I say that there is no change in the mind of central leadership of Congress," he said. "Please don't react to the statements from local quarters. I told my brother (NC leader Mustafa Kamal) a hundred times that stop all these statements. But some people are just misleading him," the NC chief, who is also Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, said.