Srinagar, May 08: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday accused the BJP of pursuing “blackmail politics” over the issue of statehood and said the delay in cabinet expansion was linked to the Union Territory’s status and not due to any fear within the ruling National Conference.
Responding to remarks by the Leader of Opposition in the NC’, Abdullah said there was “no Eknath Shinde in the National Conference” and asserted that all party legislators stood united.
“It is obvious that the LoP is impatient to sit on the chair of Jammu and Kashmir’s minister,” Abdullah told reporters here.
Referring to the ongoing debate around delimitation, the chief minister alleged that the exercise in J&K was carried out “only to benefit the BJP and its friends”.
“We suffered their delimitation and we know about delimitation. It was done only to benefit BJP and BJP’s friends,” he said.
Abdullah said the cabinet expansion had not been stalled due to political instability but because Jammu and Kashmir was yet to regain statehood.
“Cabinet expansion has stopped because we have not been given the status of a state. Cabinet expansion has not stopped because of fear,” he said.
