BJP, NPP boycott J&K House over Omar's remarks

Members of the legislative assembly from the Bharatiya Janata Party and National Panthers Party staged a protest outside the Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Friday morning against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's remarks over the state's accession to India.

On Wednesday, Omar in his 90-minute speech while concluding a discussion on the prevailing situation in the Valley had said, "Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India through an agreement but not merged with it."

The BJP and the NPP legislators announced their decision to boycott the remaining part of the session, which ends in Srinagar on Saturday, until the remarks were removed from the records of the House.

However, three NPP members later joined the assembly session where their leader Harsh Dev Singh submitted a petition to the speaker to expunge the remarks made during the course of the debate.

High drama was witnessed in the assembly on Thursday when the MLAs stormed into the well of the House to protest Omar's speech, forcing the speaker to order marshals to take them out.