National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah thanked the people of the region on Thursday for giving the NC-Congress alliance the mandate to govern Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) and highlighted the priorities of his party. He expressed hope that they would be treated fairly by the Union government, and that discussions on the restoration of statehood could begin soon.

"Our priority is to address all the issues faced by the people here. There are a lot of problems that we need to resolve, and we hope the central government treats us well and we restore statehood. The restoration of Article 370 will take time, but our first task is the restoration of statehood. Along with that, I hope they (central government) will support us in every way because Jammu and Kashmir is the crown of India. If the crown shines, then India shines. I also hope that our MLAs will walk the right path and work towards these goals," the NC chief told ANI. He reiterated that while the restoration of Article 370 might take longer, the immediate priority was statehood.