Emergency MLA meet triggers buzz of discontent; BJP claims ‘sinking ship’, Apni Party admits ‘unhappiness’ as CM says: ‘Those who speak are sitting in opposition’
Suhail Khan
SRINAGAR, JUNE 2 : The political silence in Jammu and Kashmir was broken on the weekend—not by a policy, nor by a terror strike, but by a meeting notice. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has called all National Conference MLAs for an emergency meeting on June 3, and in the vacuum of official explanation, speculation has rushed to fill the space.
Is the government under threat? Are MLAs rebelling? Or is this simply a routine exercise being wilfully misread by an opposition eager to project instability?
The answers remain behind closed doors. But the questions now dominate every political conversation in the Valley and beyond.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has wasted no time. Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma and senior leader Altaf Thakur went public on Sunday with a coordinated attack.
Sunil Sharma on Sunday ruled out the possibility of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stepping down from office, saying the National Conference leadership would continue to hold on to power regardless of the constitutional status of the Union Territory.
Sharma claimed the meeting was being held to prevent internal differences within the party from becoming public, though he did not elaborate on the nature of the alleged disagreements.
Thakur claimed the June 3 meeting is a “last-ditch attempt” by Omar Abdullah to save a government that is losing its own legislators.
“Several ruling party MLAs are unhappy. Previous attempts to pacify them have failed. This is the final effort to bring disgruntled MLAs back on board. Wait until June 3 and see what happens after the meeting,” Thakur told reporters.
More significant than the BJP’s attack was the response from Muntazir Mehdi of the Apni Party—neither an ally nor entirely a neutral observer in J&K’s fractured landscape.
“There is no doubt that several National Conference MLAs are unhappy with the party and would like to leave. The reason is that Omar Abdullah has failed to deliver on the mandate he received. Personally, I know several legislators who are dissatisfied,” Mehdi said.
He added that party president Farooq Abdullah is expected to play a crucial role in holding the government together—acknowledging the crisis even while predicting its containment.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah responded on X with a post that has since been shared widely: “I find it amusing that those who know the least about the meeting I have called with my MLAs are the ones speaking the most about it. Remember one thing: those who know do not speak, and those who speak are sitting in the opposition.”
The message was vintage Abdullah—dismissive, precise, and aimed at delegitimising the source of the rumour rather than engaging with its substance.
Inside the NC, the official response has been a wall of denial.
Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary reacted to the opposition, particularly Leader of Opposition (LoP) Sunil Sharma, saying those asking questions were “not able to handle their microphones.”
Choudhary dismissed Sharma’s remarks as “dreams of Mungeri Lal” and asserted that the Omar Abdullah-led government was neither nominated nor weak.
“It is a government chosen by the poor people of J&K—those living in the mountains, borders, villages, and downtown, whose children are unemployed, who need roads, drains, water, and electricity,” he said.
The Deputy CM said that only the electorate which voted the National Conference to power could remove the government, and not the opposition.
“BJP leader Sunil Sharma wants to be in the headlines every day. Now he has the right to speak because he is in the opposition,” he added.
MP Ramzan Chaudhary called the BJP’s claims “political fantasies.” “We are not a party that can be broken. The National Conference government is strong and secure,” he said.
MLA Salman Sagar went further, predicting not just survival but victory in the next election. “The National Conference has successfully navigated more than a century of political challenges. This government will complete its five-year term and win again. Opposition leaders may dream of becoming Chief Minister, but that is all it is—a dream.”
By the numbers
The arithmetic of the 90-member House:
Party Seats
National Conference 42
BJP 29
Congress 6
PDP 3
Others (CPM, JPC, AAP) 3
Independents 7
The NC, with Congress and independent support, technically holds a majority. But arithmetic, as J&K has learned repeatedly, is not the same as authority.
The cloudburst remark
What has given the speculation added weight is something Chief Minister Omar Abdullah himself said last month.
Addressing a gathering in Tangmarg, the Chief Minister remarked: “After Eid, we will burst like a cloudburst.”
At the time, it was interpreted as a metaphor for development or political energy. Now, with the June 3 meeting called and the opposition scenting blood, political observers are revisiting those words.
Whether the Chief Minister was speaking figuratively or foreshadowing something else remains unclear. What is clear is that the remark has become, in the hands of his critics, a self-inflicted wound.
Political observers believe Farooq Abdullah will use the June 3 meeting to reinforce unity and address grievances before they escalate. The NC patriarch has, over decades, shown an ability to hold the party together through far worse crises.
But the very fact that such an exercise is deemed necessary—barely months after the 2024 election—has given the opposition an opening it is unlikely to close until the meeting actually takes place.
For now, the government says all is well. The opposition says all is not. And on June 3, the country will watch which version holds.
