‘Assembly will be dissolved if Hurriyat leaders join poll fray’
Abid Bashir
Handwara, May 11: Acknowledging Sajjad Lone as a potent force in Baramulla parliamentary constituency, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday said he wished that Sajjad should have contested on NC ticket.
“I welcome Sajjad into the mainstream camp. I wish he would have talked to us before announcing his decision to join the election fray,” the Chief Minister told a gathering of around 5000 people at Chinar Park in Handwara on the last day of campaigning for the Baramulla parliamentary constituency.

Omar said had Sajjad taken the decision of contesting elections earlier, the lives of scores of people would have been saved. “Had he announced to contest polls 10 years ago, the number of graves in the graveyards of Kashmir would have been less,” he said.
The Chief Minister said he stands by the announcement of his father and NC president Farooq Abdullah that the assembly will be dissolved if all the pro-freedom leaders join the election fray. “I stand by what my father had said,” he said.
Showing no soft corner for Sajjad, Omar said, “He has decided to contest on his own and we will defeat him with a big margin”.  
Urging people to vote for party candidate Sharifuddin Shariq, Omar said, “You should prove that NC is stronger than PDP as well as Sajjad. I know many of you have bitterness with Shariq but you have to eschew all differences and ensure his win.”
Comparing the parliamentary elections with Indian Premier League—Twenty/20 cricket matches, the chief minister said, “NC candidate Mehboob Beg has done a clean sweep in Islamabad while my father Farooq Abdullah clean bowled Molvi Ifthikhar Ansari in Srinagar. Now it is Twenty/20 in Baramulla seat and I am hopeful we will win this seat too”.
Omar welcomed Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent statement that India was not the enemy of the country. “I want the new government in New Delhi to offer a hand of friendship to Pakistan and resume the stalled dialogue process,” he said.
The chief minister said that vote for PDP will be vote for L K Advani and rightwing BJP. “I want a party in power at New Delhi that would strengthen Article 370, promote communal harmony and brotherhood. And I believe that party is Congress as BJP is hell-bent to scrap Article 370 and create a communal divide across India,” he said.
Accusing PDP of spreading rumours that government has imposed tool tax on traders; the Chief Minister said he will resign if PDP could show him the government orders. “No tax will be imposed on an apple boxes till I am ruling the state,” he said.