Omar Abdullah meets Chidambaram; discusses BJP plan to hoist tricolour in Srinagar

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today met home minister P Chidambaram to convey the state government's assessment of the situation in view of BJP's plan to hoist the tricolour in Srinagar's Lal Chowk area on Republic Day.

He hoped that the BJP would do nothing to precipitate the situation in the state through its proposed Ekta Yatra to Srinagar while making it clear that an appropriate decision would be taken on how to deal with it.

After the 40-minute meeting with Chidambaram, Omar said he had conveyed to the Home Minister the state government's assessment of the situation vis-a-vis the BJP's proposed yatra.

"I am not going into get into any specific as to what we are going to do. As I said time and again, we are hoping that nothing will be done to precipitate the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. As we come close to January 26, we will decide what we will do," he told reporters here.

The BJP's Rashtriya Ekta Yatra from Kolkata will culminate in Srinagar on January 26 with hoisting of the tricolour in Lal Chowk.

The chief minister said he would be in close touch with the Home Minister on how to deal with any situation arising out of the BJP programme.

Omar said he had a "fairly detailed meeting" with Chidambaram and they discussed the current situation in the state -- both in the Valley as well as in Jammu.

"The periods around 26th of January and 15th of August are sensitive for the state. We discussed the ongoing efforts of the interlocutors...They are currently in the state as we speak....Certain recommendations have been made by the interlocutors which we discussed.

"I also pressed some of the points regarding the modernisation of Jammu and Kashmir Police, particularly the creation of five special battalions for dealing with law and order, disturbances and obviously the recent developments with regard to the Ekta Yatra," he said.

Several organisations, including JKLF led by Yasin Malik, have opposed the BJP's yatra.

Omar has already appealed to the BJP to abandon its plans to hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk, saying the party has exposed its intention to create trouble in the Valley.