Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday (October 13) extended best wishes to National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah for winning the Assembly Elections and said that the latter should consult him in case he faces any problem in running a “half-state” like Jammu and Kashmir. "Omar Abdullah is going to take over as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in the next few days. I congratulate him for being the chief minister of the INDIA alliance. We will fully support him in running a successful government and hope Jammu and Kashmir treads the path of development under his leadership," Kejriwal.
What did Kejriwal say?
"Delhi is called a half-state because the chief minister had limited powers. Now they (BJP) have also turned J&K into a half state which means an elected government has minimum powers whereas the lieutenant governor has more powers. I want to tell Omar that if he faces any hardship in his work, consult me because I have run the government in Delhi for 10 years," the former chief minister added.
Kejriwal, who has had a rough relationship with the BJP-led Centre over the years as a chief minister, was in Doda to express gratitude to the people for electing his party candidate Mehraj Malk as the first member of the legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.
Malik defeated BJP's Ganjay Singh Rana by over 4,538 votes besides former ministers Khalid Najib Suharwardy of the National Conference (NC) and Abdul Majid Wani of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party from the Doda assembly segment to become the first member of the AAP to register a win in Jammu and Kashmir.
AAP supports Omar govt: Kejriwal
"AAP is formally supporting the Omar-led government and I hope his government will give Mehraj responsibility so that he can not only work for Doda but provide his services to the people of J&K," said Kejriwal.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said that Mehraj had not won in the name of religion but raised the basic issues like education, health and roads.
"AAP wants development of Doda and Jammu and Kashmir...We are not in the race to become MPs, MLAs, CM or prime minister for the sake of it but we are in the long struggle against the system and want to introduce a different type of politics in the country to improve the living standards of the people," he said.