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| Omar resigns, Centre worried |
| Aasha Khosa / New Delhi Jul 29, 2009, 00:33 IST |
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Barely six months after becoming the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah resigned today, apparently in a knee-jerk response to allegations of the Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of his involvement in a sex scandal that had surfaced three years ago, throwing the state into yet another political turmoil.
Soon after the 39-year old Abdullah had tendered his resignation to Governor N N Vohra in Srinagar after an emotional drama in the Legislative Assembly, a sense of shock and disbelief gripped political circles in the state and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi.
The Congress party, which is a partner in the Omar Abdullah-led coalition government in the state, has decided to persuade the young leader to withdraw his resignation. Omar’s father and Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Resources Farooq Abdullah, who had flown to Srinagar soon after the high drama in the Assembly, has since returned to the national capital to discuss ways of ending the impasse with the central leaders.
Omar Abdullah, who enjoys the image of a clean politician and a dedicated family man, was apparently so outraged by the remarks of PDP leader Muzzaffar Hussain Baig in the Assembly that he immediately announced his resignation till he was proven innocent.
Baig later said that the names of “Omar and even Farooq Abdullah figured in the list of suspects” in the case, which is being investigated by the CBI.
CBI sources clarified that neither Omar nor Farooq Abdullah’s name had figured in the ongoing probe into the Srinagar sex scandal, that had come to light in 2006.
The CBI has filed four chargesheets against 14 persons, including two former ministers and a senior bureaucrat, in the case in a Chandigarh court.
Though Omar had said he would not budge from his stand, sources said Governor N N Vohra has asked him to continue till the probe into the allegations was over. Vohra is also coming to Delhi for consultations with the home ministry on these developments.
Sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called Omar and asked him to withdraw his resignation.
Efforts are also on in Srinagar and Delhi to persuade Omar to continue. The National Conference Legislative party has passed a resolution expressing its faith in the leadership of Omar Abdullah.
However, a close aide of the chief minister told Business Standard over phone from Srinagar that “the National Conference would take its next move only after the governor takes a decision on the resignation”.
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