Farooq Abdullah says National Conference will go solo in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar clarifies remark
Farooq Abdullah’s statement on National Conference contesting all five Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha seats independently, triggered reactions from the INDIA bloc partners including the Congress.
National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said the party will contest all five Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha seats independently, triggering reactions from the INDIA bloc partners including the Congress.
Farooq’s remarks came just two days after he skipped Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons for the second time in a month. The Srinagar Lok Sabha MP had on Monday been in connection with a money laundering case related to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.
Party vice-president Omar Abdullah, however, later said the party was still a part of the INDIA alliance.
At a press conference in Srinagar office flanked by senior party leadership, Abdullah said, “I want to make one thing clear. National Conference will fight with its own strength and there is no second question on this.” He refusing to take further questions on the topic
He, however, added, “I feel both assembly and Lok Sabha elections will be held simultaneously in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The former chief minister also addressed various Opposition leaders receiving ED summons, saying “I am not afraid of anybody. I am going to meet them [ED] soon. If they think they will finish NC by putting me in jail, that will never happen. NC is a movement that will continue even without Farooq Abdullah.”
Our aim is to stop the BJP: Omar
Notably, Farooq’s son, Omar Abdullah, had on multiple occasions said NC will not hold any seat sharing talks on the three seats that the party won in 2019, while adding that discussions with the INDIA bloc on the remaining two seats will take no more than 15 minutes.
He clarified that their doors firmly shut for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), adding, “We have nothing to do with the NDA. Neither in the future are we going to knock on their door of the NDA. I want to make it clear that three Lok Sabha seats Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla, are already with the INDIA alliance. Three seats of Jammu and Ladakh are with the BJP. Our aim is to stop the BJP. Seat sharing talks with Congress have not started yet.”
Notably, INDIA bloc leaders have insisted on the NC sparing Anantnag Lok Sabha seat for Mehbooba Mufti, the president of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), also a member of the alliance.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, reacting to the development, told reporters in Bihar that both NC and the PDP were a part of the INDIA bloc, adding, ““Talks are going on. Every party has their own limitations. NC and PDP have been a part of the INDIA bloc, and will continue to remain so.”
NC had contested the District Development Council polls, the last big election post the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, as part of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) alliance — which won the maximum seats. However, People’s Conference left the alliance soon after the polls.
Reacting to the development, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari said the alliances, be it INDIA or PAGD, were only here to hoodwink common people. “These alliances are fooling the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
Former Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattu was also quick to announce the end of the INDIA alliance, saying “In Jammu and Kashmir, just like PAGD, the INDIA alliance too has come to a naught. What an anticlimax to all the drama!”
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