File photo of Omar Abdullah
Jolted by the results of the Lok Sabha elections, which saw his party, National Conference (NC), drawing a blank in Jammu and Kashmir, chief minister Omar Abdullah lifted the ban on SMS-es on pre-paid mobile subscribers in the state and reversed his government's employment policy which put Class-III and Class IV employees at a disadvantageous position vis-a-vis daily wage earners.
The two decisions were seen by the National Conference, which rules the state in alliance with the Congress, as one of the main factors that led to the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, in which Mr Abdullah's party failed to open its account in the state. Worse, it suffered the ignominy of seeing its president Farooq Abdullah concede the Srinagar parliamentary constituency to Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party, or the PDP, by over 42,000 votes.
The NC president had won the Srinagar seat in 2009, and was made a member of the Union Cabinet.
The PDP, which was wiped out in the 2009 parliamentary polls, staged a spectacular comeback by wresting the three seats falling in the Valley, including Baramulla and Anantnag, besides Srinagar. The BJP bagged the remaining three seats in the state - Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh.
Wary of putting up a repeat performance in the Assembly elections due later this year, the Abdullah government moved in fast to remove the ban on pre-paid SMS-es. "On a separate note in continuation with the corrective measures based on the feedback from people, I've ordered the lifting of the SMS ban," Mr Abdullah tweeted today.
The ban on pre-paid SMS-es was slapped in 2010 following widespread unrest in the Valley.
In another move aimed at course correction, the chief minister has decided to bring in status-quo in his government's employment policy. "I am bringing a proposal to the Cabinet on Wednesday and I'm proposing scrapping the 'New Recruitment Policy' with immediate effect," Mr Abdullah said in another comment posted on the micro-blogging site.