KL Report
SRINAGAR
Much embarrassment to the National Conference in Baramulla constituency on Tuesday, only few odd supporters of the party turned up to attend the election rally that was supposed to be addressed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The venue was later on changed on the instructions of Higher Education Minister and Omar Abdullah addressed few odd workers at the residence of former Member Parliament Abdul Rashid Shaheen.
Eyewitnesses told Srinagar based news gathering agency CNS that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was supposed to address an election rally at Eidgah Pattan in North Kashmir. Reports said that the stage was set for the rally while police had made elaborative security arrangements in this regard.
Sources told CNS that National Conference senior leader Muhammad Akbar Lone allegedly expressed anguish when he arrived at the venue amid tight security, as there were only few odd workers present there. Insiders said that Chief Minister was informed about the position and accordingly the rally was cancelled. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was taken to the residence of former Member Parliament and National Conference leader Abdul Rasheed Shaheen where Omar Abdullah addressed the workers in the precinct.
A top police official said that he does not know anything about politics as their job was to secure and seal the venue, which they did efficiently. “We had deployed nine companies of government forces to ensure the smooth conduct of the rally,” he said.
Minster for Higher Education Muhammad Akbar Lone told CNS that they did not change the venue but supporters wanted CM to visit Shaheen’s house.
National Conference leader Abdul Rasheed Shaheen admitted that people did not turn up and the venue was changed at the last minute. He said stringent security arrangements were one of the reasons that common people did not show up at Eidgah Pattan.
