‘LG got promoted, I got demoted’: Omar shares stage with PM Modi, flags J&K statehood issue

JAMMU, Jun 6: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday raised the issue of statehood for the union territory in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he had been demoted. Abdullah was sharing the stage with PM Modi and the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, as the Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat express was inaugurated.

“I have been fortunate to be associated with the Prime Minister in all railway projects in J&K. First, when Anantnag Railway Station was inaugurated. Second, when the Banihal Railway Tunnel was inaugurated,” Abdullah said in his address.

Bringing up the statehood issue, Abdullah joked that while LG Manoj Sinha got promoted to his current position from a junior position, he himself got demoted from the CM of a state to that of a UT.

“The same four people were present here in 2014 when the Katra Railway Station was inaugurated… While the then MoS Railways, Manoj Sinha, got promoted to the post of J&K LG, I got demoted from CM of a state to CM of a UT. But things will get back to normal before we know it, and J&K will be given the status of a state by PM Narendra Modi,” he added.