Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday failed to send a ‘loud and clear’ message to voters gathered at an election rally after the public address system went off, forcing him to abruptly wind up his speech in support of the party candidate ahead of the November 11 by-elections in the Nagrota Assembly constituency.
A large number of party leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and senior MLAs, addressed the meeting without facing any technical glitches. Ironically, when Omar started addressing the gathering, his mike abruptly went off.
Omar waited patiently for over two minutes, but when the sound engineers, working behind the stage, failed to rectify the glitch in time, Omar, apparently, lost his cool. He was also seen making gestures, pointing fingers towards the party organisers.
Sporting a Dogra turban, Omar stepped down without addressing the party supporters. However, before leaving, Omar made a passionate appeal to the voters to support the party’s candidate on November 11 by turning up in large numbers at the polling booths. Omar refused to use the mike, offered to him by the party candidate standing next to him in front of the electorate.
This was Omar Abdullah’s first election meeting in Jammu after completing one year in office. The Bharatiya Janta Party candidate Devyani Rana, daughter of deceased BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana, and Shamim Begum of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference are locked in a straight contest.
After Chief Minister Omar Abdullah received a rousing reception in Jammu on the day of the reopening of the Durbar move offices, the provincial National Conference leaders extended an invitation to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to address an election meeting to boost the morale of party workers.
The Nagrota Assembly Constituency, represented by Devender Singh Rana in 2014, was won by the National Conference. Rana, a close aide of Omar Abdullah, was appointed Omar’s political advisor between 2009-2011.
After quitting the National Conference in 2021, Rana joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. He won the Nagrota Assembly seat by a margin of over 30,000 votes, defeating his rival candidate of the National Conference in October 2024. Rana passed away after a brief illness last year. The National Conference leaders are hoping to make inroads in the Nagrota constituency and are seeking votes from the electorate to support the Omar Abdullah-led Government.
