New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday exuded confidence that his party, National Conference, will do fairly well in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state and predicted that BJP will get only "handful of votes" in the Valley.
Omar praised Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for supporting him and his government in the last six years and criticised certain Congress leaders, including PCC Saifuddin Soz, who "never let NC settle" in the state.
"I will be very surprised to see if people vote for BJP in Valley. They will get a handful of votes. A trickle here and trickle there. There will be no significant impact (of BJP in the Valley)," he told Karan Thapar in an interview on Headlines Today news channel.
Omar also expressed confidence on his party's prospects in the elections. "I am definitely hopeful for that," Omar said when asked whether he felt that election results would be surprising.
Omar said his government has taken various pro-development initiatives in its tenure. "Militancy is at the lowest in last six years. There has been a fair amount of development. There is positive feedback from various parts of the state," Omar said.
To a question on Sonia Gandhi's recent criticism of the state government for not implementing the Food Security Act (FSA), which was implemented by the UPA government, he said the people around her had given wrong impression on the matter.
"Let me put it on record unequivocally, it was not inefficiency. It was a considered decision not to implement the Act because that would have deprived 25 lakh citizens of Jammu and Kashmir government supplied ration.
"J&K is the only state in the country that would have suffered on account of FSA. Most unfortunate part is the people around Sonia Gandhi are well aware of this fact," he said.
Omar said former minister Ambika Soni had pleaded before her cabinet colleague KV Thomas that J&K should not suffer on this account.
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