The opposition Peoples' Democratic Party and Peoples' Conference targeted the ruling National Conference over the meeting, and accused it of surrendering to the Bharatiya Janata Party without even a pretence over the passage of the Waqf act.
Nine people including three women were killed and 33 injured as a bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi plunged into a deep gorge after an ambush by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Sunday evening, police said, as political leaders cutting across party lines strongly condemn the dastardly attack.
Mixing humour with political resolve, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday used the flagging-off ceremony of the first train to Kashmir by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Katra to subtly but clearly articulate his government's demand for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
A chance meeting between Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Union minister Kiren Rijiju at the Tulip Garden in Srinagar has sparked a political storm, with opposition parties accusing the National Conference of laying out a red carpet for the BJP leader in the aftermath of the Waqf Amendment Act. While NC sources termed the interaction as a purely coincidental encounter, opposition parties like the PDP and Peoples' Conference condemned the meeting, accusing the NC of surrendering to the BJP. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, passed by Parliament last week, aims to streamline the management of Waqf properties with provisions to safeguard heritage sites and promote social welfare.
An Indian delegation led by the BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad will tour key European capitals to expose Pakistan's role in cross-border terrorism and State-sponsored extremism.
Omar Abdullah lost by 204,142 votes; Mehbooba Mufti by 281, 794 votes.
'We put the seed of BJP's ideology in Jammu, watered it, nurtured it for four decades and when it was time to reap the fruits of those efforts, the fruits are being sold out to the very same people who worked hard to uproot this tree.' 'Shockingly, our own people are letting this happen and nobody from Delhi bothers to even listen to us.'
Asked if the party would approach the court for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood, the NC leader said, "I do not want to get into that right now."
Chief minister-designate Omar Abdullah met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to present letters of support from coalition partners, shortly after the Congress officially extended its backing to the party.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday chose party leader Surender Choudhary from Nowshera in Jammu as his deputy, saying he did so to give a voice to people of the region and make his government inclusive.
Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and Jammu and Kashmir Police engaged in a Twitter spat on Wednesday after she claimed that she was placed under house arrest to prevent her from visiting an area in north Kashmir.
As of now, Azad couldn't be in the BJP leadership's calculus. The BJP has been trying to drill into the J&K electorate that this time around the UT would most certainly have a Hindu chief minister, explains Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The date for the oath ceremony of the new cabinet was decided after deliberations between the leadership of both the parties.
The matter was deliberately hyped, Gupta added. The case is in court, which will decide on it, he said.
The PM said the Congress and its allies should not encourage the "Pakistan agenda" and speak the language of separatists.
Briefing reporters after the nearly two-hour meeting, Abdullah said the leaders decided to formalise the alliance, that has been named 'Peoples' Alliance for Gupkar Declaration'.
Udhayanidhi's 'untimely' elevation as deputy CM may be used against the party, for critics to argue that the DMK's 'first family's is not concerned about anything else but their clan's welfare. If packaged and delivered properly, some of the sting may stick at election time, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Not everyone in Jammu and Kashmir is optimistic about the alliance between the Peoples Democratic Party and Bhartaiya Janata Party. Upasna Pandey/Rediff.com spoke to Kashmiri pandit organisations to find out how they view the new coalition politics in the valley.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday deplored the attacks on moderate Huriryat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq saying it was against the democratic traditions of the country.
Saha has kept the home, health and family welfare and public works department with him while Ratan Lal Nath has been given the charge of power, agriculture and farmers' welfare, according to an official notification issued by Chief Secretary J K Sinha.
Sources close to the CM told Business Standard that Azad had suggested to the party's Central leaders that since he was not keen to be projected as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the next year's elections, he should be replaced at the earliest.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Mehbooba also became the second Muslim woman to become the chief minister of any state in India.
Hindu pilgrims from Pakistan called on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in Jammu on Wednesday, after completing their pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.The chief minister said that he would like to see pilgrims from Pakistan visiting the Amarnath shrine in Kashmir also. "The peace process initiated by the two countries had resulted in closing the mouths of guns and mortars on the border and opening of up a new phase of friendship," Azad said.
Qazi had submitted his resignation on Tuesday after he was stripped of forest portfolio on Sunday.
"Azad saab (Ghulam Nabi Azad) had spoken on behalf of all of us that we don't accept this timeline -- we don't accept delimitation, election, statehood, we want delimitation, statehood and then election. If you want to hold polls, you'll have to restore statehood first," said Omar Abdullah.
The Sena alleged that the meeting between Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit and separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani at a time when secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan have just resumed, has been "inspired" by Sayeed.
He said he told Vohra that in this situation when no single party has the mandate to form the government, the Governor has no other option than to impose governor's rule immediately.
An Army-run school in Baramulla district has stoked a controversy by asking its staff to avoid wearing the hijab during school hours, prompting criticism from Jammu and Kashmir's mainstream political parties.
Kumar, a resident of Bhagwan village in Hanumangarh, worked as a manger with Ellaqui Dehati Bank at Areh Mohanpora branch in the south Kashmir district.
"If we (the Kashmiris) don't talk about it (dialogue), who will? Not a Bihari, not a Punjabi," she said.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday expressed apprehension that Pakistan and its sympathisers might try to disrupt the upcoming annual Amarnath Yatra that starts from July 2.
"Our handshake with Indian Union was subject to certain conditions," he said.
Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti, set to be the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, is likely to be sworn-in on April four.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that the Kashmir issue was a political problem that could not be resolved by administrative or security measures.Calling for good relations between India and Pakistan as they directly impact peace in the state, he said his people's primary focus remains on a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem through political means, with participation of all stakeholders.
A senior police officer said Abdul Rashid Raina, a resident of Pahalgam was shot by the soldiers after failing to respond to the army guard's direction and running away.
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