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‘For years I shielded them from conspiracies’

Kashmir Times. Dated: 10/14/2021 8:23:13 PM

No permanent friends in politics

KT NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, Oct 13: Days after Devendra Singh Rana and Surjeet Singh Salathia joined BJP in New Delhi, National conference senior leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in an interview said that there are no permanent friends in politics.
He was quick to add that for years he "shielded Devender Singh Rana and Salathia from the “sort of conspiracies in the party”.
“In politics there are no permanent friends, no permanent interests, and no permanent enemy’s just permanent interests,” Omar Abdullah told Karan Thapar in an interview for The Wire.
He said, “It clearly did not serve their interest to be associated with the National conference any longer. They are not the first people to leave the National conference, they won’t be the last, we have survived many departures, we will continue to survive the departures,” he said
“He said more than a setback for his party, the National Conference; this was a personal loss for him. “Because I have invested a lot in my relationship particularly with Devendra. For years now I have been shielding Devendra Singh and to an extent Slathia from the sort of conspiracies in the party,” he said.
Omar Abdullah looked visibly upset and emotional and took his time before he answered about the resignation of Devendra Singh Rana. The association with Devinder Singh Rana goes back, as he put it, two decades and more.