 Early Times Report
Srinagar, June 23: Veteran Congress leader Karan Singh said Omar Abdullah made a “mistake” by contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla instead of Srinagar — a bastion of the National Conference that was won by its candidate Aga Ruhullah Mehdi.
Omar Abdullah would have been an asset in Parliament had he won, Singh, 93, said.
Karan Singh, the son of the last Dogra ruler of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh, said: “Omar made the same mistake that I did by moving from Udhampur (Lok Sabha seat) to Jammu. He moved from Srinagar to Baramulla. He should not have done that. He should have fought from Srinagar,” he said during an interview.
“We needed him in Parliament. It would have been useful if Omar would have been in Parliament. He would have been an asset,” Singh said.
The Congress leader had won from the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat on a ticket from his party in 1967, 1971, 1977 and 1980. He lost the parliamentary elections when he moved to Jammu to fight as an Independent in 1984.
Singh, who was the “Sadr-i-Riyasat” of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1952 to 1965, also called for the restoration of statehood and conducting assembly elections in J-K. |
