Farooq Abdullah re-elected National Conference president
SRINAGAR: National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah was on Sunday re-elected as the president of the oldest party in Jammu and Kashmir at a delegates’ session here which was held after a gap of 15 years.
Farooq Abdullah (80) was re-elected unanimously at the session held at the Shere-kashmir Cricket Stadium where thousands of party delegates participated in the daylong session.
He was first appointed as the party president in 1981 and had continued to hold the post, except from 2002 to 2009.
In 2002, in a similar function held at the same venue, Farooq Abdullah had passed the baton to his son, Omar Abdullah, who was then a minister of state for external affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government.
Omar Abdullah, however, resigned from the post in 2009 after taking over as the chief minister of the state. In January 2009, Abdullah was again elected party president and he continued to hold the post.
There were reports that owing to old age and health, Farooq Abdullah might step down once again make his son the party president. Farooq Abdullah himself said at the function that he did not wish to continue. “I thank you all for electing me president but I did not want to continue as the party president as I’m getting old. Doctors have so far not been able to invent an injection to reverse ageing, even as I’m myself a doctor,” he said.
“I wanted Omar to take this responsibility, so that you leave me, but he said no. He had told me that he will take this responsibility some day. But I want to assure you that he will have to take this responsibility one day,” he said amid loud cheers from party activists.