Peoples Conference chairperson Sajad Lone, who has been seeking support from various parties and politicians of Kashmir for ensuring a win in Lok Sabha elections, on Saturday got another shot in the arm after getting support from another senior politician of central Kashmir.
Former Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) leader and district development council chairperson from Budgam, Nazir Ahmad Khan expressed his backing for Lone in the upcoming Lok Sabha election to Baramulla constituency.
“In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Sajad Lone has emerged as a beacon of hope for the people of Beerwah & Budgam, who have historically been neglected and are now part of the Baramulla LS constituency. Wholeheartedly extend my support to Mr. Lone in the forthcoming elections,” Khan said in a post on X getting an immediate acknowledgment from Lone.
Lone, who has been an ex-MLA and former minister from north Kashmir’s Handwara constituency, had earlier visited Khan at his residence at Warhama Beerwah in Budgam. “It was a personal as well as political visit. We have an old friendship and I am returning satisfied,” he had said.
Khan was previously associated with PDP and was defeated by National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah in 2017 by-elections to the Srinagar parliamentary constituency.
{{/usCountry}}Khan was previously associated with PDP and was defeated by National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah in 2017 by-elections to the Srinagar parliamentary constituency.
{{/usCountry}}The Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, which goes to polls on May 20 in the fifth phase, will see a direct contest between Lone and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah.
Lone has gotten support from various quarters in the seat including from Altaf Bukhari-led Apni Party. On Wednesday, former Jammu and Kashmir deputy chief minister (CM), Muzaffar Hussan Baig and his wife Safina Baig, the district development council chairperson from Baramulla, had also expressed their support for Lone.
The NC had grabbed the seat in 2019, with their candidate Akbar Lone winning with a margin of more than 30,000 votes over Peoples Conference’s Raja Ajaz. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had won the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Sajad Lone, a former separatist from north Kashmir, switched sides in 2009 and joined pro-India politics by fighting parliamentary elections, a first for separatists since militancy erupted in the valley in 1989. Since then, his party, PC, has slowly found a footing in north Kashmir.
Ends