M A I N   N E W S

Farooq’s no to fresh proposals
Briefs President on recommendations

NEW DELHI, July 20 (PTI, UNI) — The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, today called on the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, to apprise him about the recommendations of the State Autonomy Committee.

Some of Dr Abdullah’s cabinet colleagues accompanied him to Rashtrapati Bhavan as part of the state government’s efforts to create a better appreciation of the demand for restoration of autonomy and remove misgivings if any in any issue of the demand.

The Congress and the National Conference (NC) today held another round of discussions on the resolution on autonomy.

The Congress group on Kashmir and NC leaders met for more than two hours yesterday, but the discussions were inconclusive.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet tomorrow for an intense discussion on the autonomy issue raised by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and related matters.

earlier, Dr Abdullah today rejected the Centre’s suggestion to forward a fresh set of recommendations on autonomy and said instead the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) should set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) soon to avoid further alienation of people in the state.

“I have received nothing formal from the Centre on submitting fresh proposals for autonomy and moresoever the state government will never do it,” Dr Abdullah told PTI shortly before flying to southern states on “mission” to evolve a national consensus on autonomy for the state.

The Chief Minister also said that the recommendations of the autonomy resolution were the result of four years of hard work done by the State Autonomy Committee. “I don’t know why the Centre wants to push us back when we want to look forward.”

“We have formed a GoM and we want the same from the Centre...let this forum discuss and make necessary amendments in our report after convincing us,” he said.

The Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, had said yesterday that the Centre had sought fresh proposals from the Jammu and Kashmir government on the autonomy issue.

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday adopted a cautious approach and remained non-committal on the issue of autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, saying that he would “study” the report on the issue presented to him by Dr Farooq Abdullah.

“He (Abdullah) has given a report to us (on the autonomy resolution passed by the J&K Assembly) and has asked us to take it up with the Centre.