Distancing himself from Lalu Prasad’s “Parivar” (family) jibe on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former J&K chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Friday said he has never been in favour of such slogans that have allowed the BJP to score a goal.

Talking to mediapersons in Srinagar, Abdullah said; “I have never been in favour of such slogans and we have never benefited from them. Such slogans have always harmed us”.

Slamming Lalu Prasad, who is also an ally of INDIA bloc, for making such personal remarks, former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir said “Voters are not influenced by such slogans, they want to know how the issues faced by them will be resolved. We do self-goal or remove the goalkeeper by making such statements and allow Modi to score a goal”. Modi has used the “Parivar” issue well against the INDIA bloc during the election campaign, he added.

Abdullah’s remark came a day after Modi during his Srinagar visit again raised the ‘parivaar’ issue by saying that the people of Kashmir were like a family for him. A few days ago, Lalu Prasad had attacked Modi by saying that Modi does not have a family of his own.

Responding to Modi’s Thursday visit to Srinagar, Abdullah said nothing new has come out of his visit. He said ”what he had been saying and there was nothing new in his speech. What people wanted to hear was restoration of democracy in J&K, tackling the electricity crisis and holding assembly elections”.

“I am aware that the PM can’t himself announce the elections, that is the prerogative of the Election Commission, but the least we expected was to hear that the elections will be held by September, which is the deadline set by the Supreme Court”.

He said,”We want restoration of full statehood, not half or any other model. What was snatched from us in 2019 should be returned to us.”

Replying to questions, Abdullah refused to leave the Anantnag Lok Sabha for the PDP to contest. PDP is part of the INDIA alliance and was seeking the seat that falls in the home town of Mehbooba Mufti.

Citing PDP’s previous poll performance as the reason for not sparing the seat for Mehbooba Mufti, he said NC’s Hasnain Masoodi is currently representing the seat. The PDP was at the third position in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The NC leader said that the PDP attacks his party more than anyone else without observing the coalition dharma.

The two seats of Jammu and the one of Ladakh will be contested by the Congress, he added.

In a shot in the arm for the National Conference, Former Baramulla MLA Javaid Beigh joined the party in the presence of Omar Abdullah. Beigh is closely related to former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh.