I won't be caged in, says Omar Abdullah

In a sharp counter-attack against opposition PDP, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today dubbed the party as utterly irresponsible and told it bluntly that he was not going to be caged in by their vicious campaign for his ouster.

"They have always been uncomfortable with me. They have never loved the idea of my being the Chief Minister," Omar said in answer to questions on PDP's demand for his resignation in the wake of the death of a National Conference (NC) worker Haji Syed Yusuf in police custody.

PDP led by father-daughter duo of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti "was willing to sacrifice everything to keep me out of power," he said, adding, "it will do anything to topple my government irrespective of consequences for them or for the state."

Recalling the political man-oeuvres that followed the 2008 assembly elections in which none of the three principal parties, Congress, NC or PDP, got a clear majority, Omar said that PDP had made offers to the Congress to be part of a coalition in which they would even not take any ministries.

Therefore, PDP's bitterness against NC was not surprising, "but they do not realise that I am not going to be caged in like this," Omar told PTI.

It was deeply frustrating for PDP that the state under NC-Congress coalition government had one of its best years in decades in terms of development, peace and tourism, he said.

Ruling out his resignation, the Chief Minister said he would not yield to enemies wanting to topple him for doing his duty to the people of the state.

"That is not the way I am made. I have been taught differently by my parents. I went to a school whose motto was 'never give in' and I definitely am not going to give in on this," he said.

Omar was asked a number of questions on the events of September 29 when Yusuf and two other NC workers had been called to his residence in Srinagar. The two workers, Abdul Salam Reshi and Mohammed Yusuf Bhat, had complained that Yusuf had taken over Rs one crore from them for getting them membership of legislative council or ministerships.

Narrating that day's events at his official residence, Omar said that when he found that the allegation against Yusuf was of a serious nature to merit a police case, he had immediately asked Minister of State for Home Nasir Wani to call the IG (Crime) Raja Aijaz and hand the three over to him so that the police could proceed in this matter.

"As far as I was concerned, my involvement in this case ended at that point. It is only unfortunate that the next day Haji Yusuf died of a massive heart attack and the political opposition has tried to make a controversy out of it," he said.

The Chief Minister refused to join issues with what Reshi had been talking to media that the deceased vomited in the police vehicle saying "what is more important to me is what he (Reshi) says to the judicial commission of enquiry when he is under oath.

"Once he puts his hand on Holy Koran and promises to tell the truth, I will expect that he will tell the truth," he said.

On claims made in certain section of media that Yusuf had complained of ill health at his official residence, Omar said "at no point while he was in my presence or in my house that I was there, did did he complain any sort of ill health or feeling unwell. If he had, I would have immediately sent him to hospital" and the police would have completed their formalities after his treatment.

Omar said there was nothing unusual about the photographs showing him along with the deceased. "I can guarantee you that almost in every political parties, these workers will have photographs with their leaders," he said.

Its unfortunate that sometimes individuals like Yusuf than try and take an advantage of that perceived opportunity, which is what he did.

"But I can categorically tell you that Yusuf was no closer to us than any other workers. In fact there are workers who are more closer than he and obviously far more honest than he turned out to be," he said.

The fact that the state had had extremely successful elections to Panchayats who had now been empowered, "was something they are uncomfortable with," Omar said.