by Tahir Bhat
SRINAGAR: In the first major political rally in Srinagar, the National Conference on Sunday elected Dr Farooq Abdullah as the president of the party. The decision to request Dr Abdullah to continue as party president was taken by the party Working Committee on Saturday.
At the rally in the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium near Gupkar, Kashmir provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani nominated Dr Abdullah as president. It was seconded by his counterpart from Jammu, Devinder Singh Rana.
The decision was welcomed by slogans of welcome and praise to Dr Abdullah, who has been Kashmir’s Chief Minister four times, so far.
In the working committee meeting, Dr Abdullah had suggested Omar should replace him as the party president. But the members insisted he should continue. The meeting was attended by Omar and senior leaders including Ali Muhammad Sagar, Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, Abdur Rahim Rather, Nasir Aslam Wani, Devendra Singh Rana and others.
The party had held a major rally in 2002 when Omar was elected the party president for the first time. When he became Chief Minister in 2009, Dr Abdullah replaced him as party president. Dr Farooq has been leading the party since 1981.
