Srinagar: In a significant development, National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said that the People’s Democratic Party may not field candidates against his party in upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Kashmir Valley and that both parties are integral part of INDIA alliance.
Speaking to reporters, Abdullah said that PDP president Mehbooba Mufti hasn’t shown any intention to field candidates against the NC.
Abdullah, as per news agency KNO, referred to a recent rally of the INDIA bloc in Delhi, where Mehbooba Mufti shared stage with NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah and reiterated PDP’s commitment to the alliance. He also urged the media not to foster discord between the two parties.
Abdullah criticised the emergence of new alliance in Kashmir, alleging these parties are working at the behest of the BJP and will contest polls as its proxies in Jammu and Kashmir.
On Article 370, Abdullah reiterated his stance, stating it was a grave mistake that deprived the people of Jammu and Kashmir of their rights. He also condemned the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and that he has been a victim of BJP’s flawed policies.
The fresh statement of National Conference Vice-president comes few weeks after he justified his decision to contest all three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir and bluntly told Congress to allocate a seat for PDP from its quota, while denying being “rigid” over seat-sharing.
“If Congress is interested in giving a seat to PDP, they better share their seats. They have 3 seats – Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh. Who is stopping them?” he while talking to reporters said in Jammu.
On Congress’s proposal to give one seat to PDP, Omar had retorted, “Show me any state in which seat-sharing has a 50% ratio.”
“There is “very little scope” for PDP to win,” he had maintained about the PAGD ally.
“We (NC) won’t sacrifice our seats, but we are not rigid,” he asserted, adding, “Our talks with Congress are going in the right direction.”
The NC leader had interestingly claimed that PAGD was “never an electoral alliance”. “It was about ideas… a goal. We stand by that goal. NC is committed to the idea of INDIA bloc and PAGD.”
