Senior National Conference leader Ruhullah Mehdi on Tuesday tendered his resignation as the chief spokesman of the party following apparent differences with the leadership over its course of action in the wake of abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
"I have sent across my resignation from the post of Chief Spokesperson of @JKNC. From here on none of my statements should be considered as such," Ruhullah said on his verified Twitter handle.
The trigger for the resignation of the influential Shia leader seems to be the views of party vice president Omar Abdullah that he would not contest any Assembly election as long as Jammu and Kashmir remains a Union Territory.
Ruhullah tweeted, "The restoration of statehood should be the least of the demands. It should be the last demand. Our main demand should be restoration of special status."
A former cabinet minister and three-time legislator from Budgam assembly constituency of central Kashmir, Ruhullah had in May removed his designation as NC party chief spokesperson from his Twitter handle bio, setting off speculation of a rift within the party.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Abdullah said, "I have no problem being disagreed with for what I say or do but when you invent things & put words in my mouth to attack me then that's more about you than about me…. I've simply said that having been CM of the STATE of J&K I will not fight an assembly election to the assembly of the UT of J&K. That's it. No more no less! That's a far cry from saying I'm demanding statehood be restored."
On August 5 last year, the central government announced nullification of Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated the state into union territories.
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