In a scathing attack on BJP that on Saturday lost the assembly elections in Karnataka at the hands of the Congress, National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah said there is “no way” the BJP will have the courage to “allow” assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after its poor performance in the Karnataka polls.

“Now, there is no way BJP will have the courage to allow assembly elections to take place in Jammu and Kashmir any time soon #KarnatakaElectionResults,” Abdullah, the vice president of the NC, said in a tweet.

Omar and his father Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who is NC chief, had supported Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. The J&K assembly was dissolved five years ago after the BJP withdrew support to PDP that was leading the coalition government. Mainstream regional parties have been demanding assembly elections in J&K where the officialdom of the Lt. Governor’s administration has lost rapport with people.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, while congratulating the Congress for the sweeping win in Karnataka, tweeted; “wasn’t easy given that BJP unleashed the most vicious communal campaign. The people of Karnataka have rejected division and bigotry. I hope this is the start of a new beginning for India”.

Talking to mediapersons, Mehbooba described Karnataka Assembly poll results as a ‘ray of hope’, and hoped that the rest of the country will also reject ‘communal politics’ and vote for its development and prosperity.

She said, “The BJP tried its best to communalise the situation as is their habit. They even brought Bajrangbali, religion, Hindu-Muslim to the discourse. The prime minister tried to take the discourse on religious lines. Despite that, people kept these issues on the sidelines and chose the issue of development on which the Congress ran its campaign.”

Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari, who is considered close to BJP, tweeted; “As a representative of the people, I strongly believe that democracy is the backbone of our society. Elections in Jammu and Kashmir must not be delayed any further as the voice of the people deserves to be heard”.

Congress activists in Srinagar and Jammu celebrated the victory of the party. They burst firecrackers and danced in traditional style.