India
National conference working president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday met Dineshwar Sharma, the central government’s newly-appointed interlocutor for the state.
Updated : Nov 08, 2017, 01:26 PM IST
National conference working president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday met Dineshwar Sharma, the central government’s newly-appointed interlocutor for the state.
Terming the meeting, a private affair, Abdullah said there was no discussion on autonomy for the state.
He further said that the Centre needed to clear its stand on the state, and that the PMO had undermined Sharma’s status.
He, however, said that he told Sharma that he should not sit in guest house and wait for people to come to meet him, he should expand his area of operation.
He also wrote the outcome of the visit on Twitter:
Mr Dineshawar Sharma & I met at my residence in Srinagar this morning. We discussed the prevailing situation in the state as also steps that can be taken to make his visits to the state more meaningful.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 8, 2017
“What we talked about is between us. I put forward certain things and he agreed to consider them because if you just sit at the guest house and wait for people to come nothing will happen. Hope when he comes next his efforts will increase," Omar Abdullah told ANI when asked about his meeting with the Kashmir interlocutor.
The former J&K CM also said that the central government should "clear the hurdles" in the interlocutor's way so that he can work freely.
"The hurdles that centre has created by the statements of centre should be stopped so that he can wok freely. We hope if it’s done next time more people may meet him," he said.