Bureaucrats will have to respond to MLAs: Omar Abdullah

Srinagar, Oct 10: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) vice president and the Chief Ministerial candidate Omar Abdullah has said that the bureaucrats are accountable to an elected government.

Omar, who was once elected as India's youngest Chief Minister and is now set to take that chair again, although with less powers, said, a DC (District Commissioner) can't ignore an MLA, neither can an SP (Superintendent of Police).

"So, people's work will get done. Up until now, they just haven't had a voice. These officers haven't been willing to listen to anybody," Omar told Indian Express.

He said wait for the government to form and see how people will flock the Secretariat. The lines outside the Secretariat today tells how disconnected the present administration has been from the people they are supposed to be serving.

He further said that getting into a fight with LG from day one won't help him address his voters' concern.

"I'm trying to draw a line between what NC and BJP do and what J&K govt and Union govt do. And if we can ensure that those lines don't get blurred... it'll be to mutual advantage of both"

He said the huge mandate his party got leaves him with a 'sense of humility' and that he is humbled. "It leaves us with a great sense of responsibility," he said.

The third-generation politician from Abdullah family said, "You don’t get a mandate like this without people expecting to see visible change. And that obviously becomes a huge responsibility for us."

This responsibility, he said, will have to be fulfilled by navigating uncharted waters, referring to being the first Chief Minister of a Union Territory.

"This is the first time the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) is going to have to work with an elected government," he said.

There are many firsts that the new government has to figure out how to understand, he said.

"We need to understand what departments ours are. What powers are ours. What decisions we can take. How far we can push the line. So, we’ll figure it out," said Omar, who is dubbed as the most articulate political leader of Kashmir right now.