Srinagar:I committed mistakes in the past and have learnt from those mistakes, National Conference (NC) president Omar Abdullah said here Thursday, adding "I would not repeat them in the future".

Addressing a public meeting at Wakura village, 34 km from here in north Kashmir s Ganderbal constituency, Omar Abdullah said: "I committed mistakes in the past and have learnt from those mistakes." "I would not repeat them in the future. It is a test for the voters of Ganderbal to vote for me on November 23 and then my test would begin for the next six years. "I assure you, I shall not fail to come up to the people s expectations this time," he said.

The NC president is fighting the election from Ganderbal constituency against the People s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Qazi Muhammad Afzal and Sheikh Muhammad Ashfaq of the Congress. Qazi had defeated Omar Abdullah from Ganderbal in 2002 elections. Taking a dig at Qazi, Omar said: "In 2002 elections, the people here said they would rather vote for a local candidate than for him who did not belong to Ganderbal.

"You have seen the damage your so-called local candidate did to Ganderbal and the rest of the state." Qazi was the forest minister when the controversial forest land allotment order to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board was made by the Congress-PDP alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir. The constituency goes to polls Nov 23. NC's first show of strength in Ganderbal was Thursday and there were about 3,000 people who had gathered at Wakura village to listen to Omar Abdullah. During the road show and rally, the NC supporters had earlier clashed with the Congress supporters at Barsoo village in the same constituency. Dozens of vehicles carrying party supporters accompanied Omar when he reached the venue of the public meeting at Wakura village.

Source : IANS