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Won’t sacrifice seats NC won in last polls: Omar
In the 2019 general elections, the NC had won three seats in Kashmir region , Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won Jammu and Udhampur in Jammu region and the Ladakh seat
With internal fissures within the INDIA bloc in J&K out in the open, National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Monday said that the party was very flexible over seat sharing but also made it clear that his party would not sacrifice seats which it won in the previous elections.
Jammu and Kashmir has five Lok Sabha seats and Ladakh has one. In the 2019 general elections, the NC had won three seats in Kashmir region , Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won Jammu and Udhampur in Jammu region and the Ladakh seat.
Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Jammu, Omar said, “Where are we rigid? Had we been rigid, we would have fielded our candidates on all the six seats, like what Mamta Banerjee did (in West Bengal)”.
“We are flexible but you would see it only when we don’t field our candidates on the seats we won in the last elections. We are leaving 50% seats for the INDIA bloc. Show me a state where any party has compromised on half of the seats,” he added.
Last week, the NC announced that party would contest all three seats in the Kashmir region and asked the Congress to contest on two seats in Jammu region. The NC also conveyed to the Congress that there would be a consensus candidates of the NC and the Congress on the solitary Ladakh seat.
Recently, Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and Omar had also engaged in a war of words over seat sharing.
Omar clarified that the NC has not targeted any INDIA bloc partner over seat sharing.
“Did you hear any statement where we targeted any alliance partner? We joined alliance for certain principles and we are maintaining them. We want to cohesively contest the elections and wrest three seats of erstwhile J&K from the BJP,” he said.
“If Congress wants, they can offer Jammu seats to the PDP. We won’t sacrifice our seats,” he added.
“The PDP had already committed in the Mumbai meeting of the INDIA bloc. I was there when Mehbooba categorically said that decision taken by Farooq Abdullah on seat distribution in J&K was acceptable to the PDP,” he said.
However, despite war of words between PDP and NC, Omar exuded confidence about INDIA bloc fairing well in the upcoming polls.
“Had idea of INDIA bloc faded or weakened, then seat sharing would not have been possible. Our talks with the Congress are moving in the right direction. An announcement will be made soon,” he said.
On People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), Omar said it was never an electoral alliance.
“It was an alliance based on ideology. The parties who feel that PAGD should only benefit seat sharing were in it for the wrong reason. Neither PAGD nor INDIA bloc was just about seats for us. It was about an idea and a goal. We stand committed to that goal,” he said.
On March 8, Mehbooba had accused the NC of reducing the PAGD to a “joke” after the latter unilaterally decided to contest all three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir.
