“I will not succumb to my critics and enemies and I am damn well going to do my job,” a combative Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah declared on Friday night.
Even as the controversy surrounding the death of National Conference (NC) worker showed no signs of abating, Mr. Abdullah ruled out his resignation as demanded by the opposition People's Democratic Party.
“I will do the job I have to do until I have the opportunity to do it. And that is it,” the Chief Minister told PTI.
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He did not regret getting involved in the matter in which two NC workers had complained that another party member Haji Syed Yousuf had taken over Rs. one crore from them for getting them membership of the Legislative Council. He had handed over all the three to the police after which Yousuf had died.
“I did the right thing. Aside from being a Chief Minister, I am also a past president of the party and have an obligation to try and root out corruption within the party or anywhere else when things are brought to my notice,” he said.
“I took cognisance of the allegation and instead of trying to deal with it in an underhand manner, I dealt with it in the most transparent manner and handed over the case to the police,” Mr. Abdullah said.
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The Chief Minister said that he wanted to expedite an inquiry into the episode by a sitting judge of the High Court and the government was in correspondence with the Chief Justice.
He acknowledged that there is “something seriously wrong” when two NC workers believe that they can get what they want by paying money. “The NC has never been a party that has sold seats or Ministries. God knows that we don't need to...”