No puppet: Cong sees nothing wrong in Omar’s remark

Congress leader Digvijay Singh said a chief minister has his own views in a federal system.

Congress sees saw nothing wrong in Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s remarks that he was not the Centre’s puppet.

“What should he say? Should he say he is a puppet? After all he is an elected chief minister of a state,” AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters here when asked to comment on Abdullah’s statement.

Asked whether the statement was against the Centre’s policies,Singh said,”He is the chief minister of a state. He should not allow the message to go that he is weak and unnecessarily harassed and interfered with.”

Singh said in a federal system,the chief minister has his own views.

“There is an importance of the chief minister in a federal system. He has his own existence,” Singh said.

Rejecting Opposition charges,Abdullah had on Wednesday said neither he nor his council of ministers were acting as “puppets” of the Centre.

Omar also made known his disapproval of Union Home Secretary G K Pillai announcing that curfew in the Valley would be lifted,a move which he felt undermined the institutions of the State.