'If you are ready': Will Omar Abdullah join hands with BJP for J&K statehood — What he said?

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday asserted that he would choose to resign rather than join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hasten statehood for the Union territory.

He said that he is not ready to make any political compromise to get statehood, while speaking at an event in the Achabal area of Anantnag district.

"If you (people) are ready, then tell me, because I am not ready to make that trade. If it is needed to include the BJP in the government, then accept my resignation. Make any MLA here the chief minister and form the government with the BJP," he said.

The J&K chief minister added that had he included the BJP in the government, the statehood might have been restored sooner.

"Should we have included the BJP in the government? There was a possibility that by including the BJP in the government, we could have got a gift. They would have granted the statehood to us sooner," he said.