Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday urged Delhi to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, earning a rebuke from his party’s Srinagar MP, Ruhullah Mehdi, who appeared to suspect a betrayal.

This is the second time the two have been locked in a public spat in two months.

Mehdi last month staged a protest outside Omar’s residence against the alleged failure of his government to amend the controversial reservation policy. The Srinagar MP picked up another fight soon after Omar’s media conference where he pleaded for statehood. Mehdi said he would not settle for the “hollow promise of mere statehood”.

“The abrogation (of Article 370) was a political statement, a declaration that our sacrifices mean nothing, and that our future is theirs to dictate,” Mehdi wrote on X.

“Given this betrayal, this calculated attempt to break our spirit and subjugate our will, I cannot, in good conscience, sidestep from the fight for our special status and settle for the hollow promise of mere statehood. Shouldn’t our voices first rise for our honour, our identity, and the autonomy we have long been denied?”

Mehdi’s reaction came in response to Omar’s call to him to lead a protest at Parliament for statehood. Omar was also asked to comment on the MP’s protest outside his residence against reservation.

“The honourable MP staged a protest outside my home. It is good. Now I hope that in the Parliament session, a similar protest is held there and other parties are included in it,” he said.

NC sources said the party was disturbed by Mehdi’s public utterances against Omar for talking about statehood. “Statehood is a far bigger demand than reservation. Mehdi sahab trivialises the demand for statehood but stages a protest outside the CM’s house against reservation,” said the source.

Omar, during the media conference, said his bigger worry was that outsiders might take over jobs and land in Jammu and Kashmir while they remained busy fighting against reservation. “We will have to safeguard these jobs, land for ourselves first. Then we will continue fighting for reservation. I fear we will fight a reserved versus open category thing but people from outside will start taking these jobs. What will
you do then?” he asked.