Jammu/Srinagar, July 20 Chief Minister Omar Abdullah left for Delhi on Monday to join the National Conference’s protest there demanding restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
The demonstration coincides with the commencement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament and will be led by the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.
“Under the leadership of our president, the statehood protest will commence from 5, Prithviraj Road at 10 am. All party leaders, MLAs, and legislators will assemble there before proceeding together,” a party spokesperson said.
Abdullah who reached Delhi along with his father on Saturday, cut short his visit and returned to Jammu on Sunday to chair a high-level meeting amid devastating flash floods in the Poonch-Rajouri belt and prediction of moderate to heavy rainfall till July 23 across the Union Territory.
The chief minister left for Delhi on Monday morning to join the protest, a party leader said.
Meanwhile, National Conference is set to hold its programme on statehood at the Constitution Club of India.
An official from the Constitution Club that the party has reserved Malvankar Hall for the event.
“Yes, they have booked it from 11:00 AM,” the official said over the phone.
The National Conference had earlier announced that it would hold its protest programme at Jantar Mantar and had applied for permission, but it may not have been feasible on the grounds that Cockroach Janta Party was staging a sit-in there over its demands.
There were also reports suggesting that the NC might hold its protest at Ramlila Maidan.
