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BJP can’t win three Rajya Sabha seats without doing horse trading: J&K CM
Omar said that the Rajya Sabha election will reveal to J&K people who are the friends of BJP in an apparent reference to Independents and his Kashmir opposition
J&K chief minister (CM) Omar Abdullah on Monday said that the numbers for Rajya Sabha elections are not in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party to win even a single of the four seats unless they indulge in “horse trading or coercion”.
While talking to reporters, Omar said that the Rajya Sabha election will reveal to J&K people who are the friends of BJP in an apparent reference to Independents and his Kashmir opposition.
“BJP can’t win three Rajya Sabha seats without doing horse trading. It can’t even win one seat without doing horse trading. They need 30 votes to win the fourth seat but they have 28. There is not a single MLA other than the party’s own 28 that has shown any support for the BJP up until now in the last one year which means if they are claiming to win three seats it is money power, muscle power and the power of the agencies. Let’s see,” Omar said.
Rajya Sabha elections in J&K to the four seats are scheduled to be held on October 24.
For seat 1 and 2, a candidate has to secure 45 votes to win while for seat 3 and 4 (which will go to polls collectively), a candidate will have to acquire 30 votes for each seat to win in the 88 member legislative assembly.
BJP has announced three candidates for all the four RS seats. “BJP has 28 MLAs. Anybody who abstains or votes for BJP, it will be clear to people who are the true friends of BJP and who are its opponents,” Omar said.
The NC had allied with Congress and other allies in October 2024 to form the government with 53 MLAs in the J&K assembly. While NC has 41 MLAs, its ally Congress has six members and CPI (M) has one in the J&K assembly. Five independents are also supporting the coalition.
The government’s Kashmir opposition like People’s Democratic Party has three MLAs and People’s Conference has one MLA. Both the parties have been vocal in its opposition of BJP.
Omar said those abstaining from voting will also be considered as friends of BJP. “Anyone who abstains (from voting) is a friend of BJP and obviously those as well who are voting for it. Because in three out of the four elections, there are candidates against the BJP,” he said.
He said that if BJP really was aiming to win through coercion or buying, then they would proving those in Bihar correct. “Otherwise, as of today, as the numbers go, the BJP is not in a position to win even one seat. That is why I said this RS election will show us who are the friends of BJP and who are its opponents,” he said.
While NC had announced three candidates for the first three seats on Sunday, the party has now decided to field a candidate on the fourth seat as well after Congress on Sunday announced to abstain from fighting the election on the risky fourth seat.
Congress J&K president Tariq Hameed Karra on Sunday said that his party decided to not contest in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections on an “unsafe seat” after it could not secure a safe seat from its coalition partner National Conference.
After NC decided to file nominations on all the four seats on Monday, Karra said: “Our trust has been broken. It suggests that NC may be evaluating whether to remain in the INDIA bloc,” he said.
Omar also put to rest the speculation surrounding the NC president Farooq Abdullah not fighting the RS elections. “Farooq sb himself has decided to step back from RS elections and I don’t think this should lead to any speculation for Budgam assembly election. Because the person who did not fight RS elections will not go through the rigours of an assembly election campaign,” Omar said.
Meanwhile, Union minister Jitendra Singh said that all three candidates of the BJP are party veterans and senior leaders. “Sat Sharma has is our state president and had been a legislator and minister holds lot of experience. Rakesh Mahajan is also senior leader from border region of J&K and Dr Ali Mohammad is our old associate. We are very much hopeful that all three Rajya Sabha seats will be won by our candidates,” he said adding that BJP believes in democracy and never go for horse trading.
