Omar Abdullah: BJP avoiding the Kashmir Valley polling venue because of “people’s anger”

Omar Abdullah, the vice-president of the National Conference, said on Friday that the BJP’s decision to withdraw all of its candidates from Kashmir for the next elections was a blatant sign that it had failed to win over the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people.

“The BJP ran for every seat in 2019.” This time, the Union Home Minister said that winning over people’s hearts was more important than fielding candidates from Kashmir. This suggests that they are aware that they have not been able to win people over.

“It indicates that people are more irate now that Article 370 has been repealed in 2019,” Omar said.

The NC leader said, “We will work to win over more voters to our side.”

He said that the importance of these elections could not be overemphasized, especially as they were the first elections in J&K since August 2019.

Omar said that if the BJP had abandoned the fight, it would have had some significance, but that was not the case. He said that the party was in charge “behind the scenes.”

Omar said, “Chugh is frequently visiting Kashmir and meeting leaders here,” in reference to BJP J&K general secretary Tarun Chugh’s frequent trips to Kashmir and talks with other party officials.

“He recently paid a visit and went directly to a local leader’s house… What was spoken about there? Everyone is aware of their BJP ties. “We have closed our doors to Chugh.” He won’t come see us, and we won’t let him in. This is how Altaf Bukhari and the NC differ from one another, according to Omar.