Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had tendered his resignation three days ago after the Opposition alleged that he was involved in a sex scandal in 2006, is likely to resume his work from tomorrow.
With this, the three-day political crisis in the state appears to have blown over. A close aide of Omar told Business Standard from Srinagar that “the chief minister would attend his office tomorrow”.
The 39-year old chief minister’s decision follows a statement issued by Governor N N Vohra in New Delhi after his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Vohra, in a statement, said he had received the allegations levelled by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) against Omar Abdullah on the floor of the Legislative Assembly, investigated with the help of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Giving a clean chit to Abdullah, Vohra said there was no basis for his resignation following the information supplied to him by the MHA on the sex scandal. The governor has advised the “chief minister to vigorously devote himself to discharging his responsibilities,” an official release said.
However, behind the optics of the MHA’s investigation, a slew of back-channel efforts made by the Kashmir handlers in the ministry and the Prime Ministers’ Office during the last two days had helped end the political uncertainty in the border state.
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The government feared that a prolonged political crisis would only worsen regional tensions and derail the developmental process.
In the last two days, the PDP also softened its stand on the issue as party leader Muzzaffar Hussain Beigh, who had levelled charges against Omar, admitted on a television show that he did not expect Omar Abdullah to resign.
Meanwhile, Omar today hit back at the PDP leadership for not getting the Srinagar sex scandal investigated properly during its tenure.