New Delhi, June 25 -- Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said he has no objections if the Legislative Assembly has to be dissolved and fresh elections are to be conducted after statehood is restored to Jammu and Kashmir.

"I have read in a newspaper that statehood will be restored but assembly elections would have to be held afresh. Let them do it, who has stopped them," Abdullah told reporters at Gulmarg, the famed tourist site 52 kilometres from Srinagar.

Abdullah, who was sworn in as the first chief minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in October last year, said that statehood is the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"I know where the story has come from. I know who planted the story in a newspaper here.... it w...