"We cannot be browbeaten by money and muscle power. We have withstood all challenges in the past and will do it again in the future", Omar Abdullah said, sending out a signal to New Delhi.
He also spoke about his grandfather, NC founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah's arrest in 1953, and the ouster of his father Farooq Abdullah from power in 1984 -- two events in Kashmir's history the NC has been blaming the centre for the alienation of the people here.
Omar Abdullah seems to have been rattled by two things.
First, the drubbing his party took during the Lok Sabha elections in which the NC and even its ruling alliance partner the Congress failed to win even a single seat from the state.
Second, the fact that the NC fears it might face the same plight during the state assembly elections due here in October-November this year.
Modi's problem is not just the opposition by the separatists and the huge challenges of security and development. He has also to address the political concerns of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has already embarked on an ambitious political strategy to get at least "five lotuses" from the Valley.
This means the BJP, which has eleven seats at present in then 87-member state assembly, plans to win at atleast five seats from the Valley during the next elections while aiming to improve its political fortunes in the Jammu region as well.
Given the stiff opposition from the separatists and no-love-lost situation with the ruling NC-Congress combine in the state, it is likely the prime minister would abstain from any political overture during his Friday visit to the state.
"He would inaugurate the 25 kilometre long stretch of the railways from Katra town to Udhampur. Review security at the borders with Pakistan and China and also in the hinterlands at a high level meeting in Srinagar, inaugurate the 240 megawatt hydro-electric power project in the border town of Uri and return to New Delhi the same day," said a source in the state government.
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