Miffed Omar stays away from PM's meeting

SRINAGAR: National Conference (NC) president and MP Omar Abdullah on Friday announced he would "stay away" from a meeting of political parties with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Srinagar "as a mark of protest" over alleged harassment by security personnel during inauguration of the Baglihar hydel project.

Speaking to media persons by phone from Baglihar, Omar alleged he had been "harassed by the security personnel in Baglihar" where Singh inaugurated the first phase of the 900 MW hydro-electric power project earlier on Friday.

Omar said he had, as a sign of protest, refused the official helicopter ride from Baglihar to Srinagar, where the prime minister has reached and is meeting leaders of mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir.

"I am now coming back to Srinagar by road," Omar said.

During the inaugural function at Baglihar, former chief ministers Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad shared the stage with the prime minister, while Omar, a parliament member and former union state minister, was not extended the right protocol, National Conferebce sources said here.
 
With Omar Abdullah staying away from the prime minister’s meeting, the NC has sent some of its middle-rung leaders to attend the meeting.