‘Omar Abdullah has no choice’: People’s Democratic Party’s go-it-alone plan deals fresh blow to India

Srinagar:

With weeks to go before the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls, Jammu and Kashmir has joined the ranks of states where India’s allies are competing against each other. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Mehbooba Mufti has decided to contest the Kashmir Lok Sabha seat alone.

Announcing the decision at a press conference, Ms Mufti said her party would contest three seats in the Kashmir Valley and would soon take a decision on contesting two parliamentary seats in Jammu. She also slammed the National Conference of Allies for its “unilateral” decision to contest all seats in Kashmir.

Earlier, the National Conference announced that it would contest from all three seats in Kashmir and named Mian Altaf as its candidate from Anantnag-Rajouli seat.

Slamming the National Conference and its leader Omar Abdullah, she said: “The National Conference and Omar Abdullah have left us no choice.”

She said the need of the hour was for political parties in Jammu and Kashmir to remain united. But the attitude of the national conference leadership was hurtful, she said. “When the INDI alliance met in Mumbai, I said there that since (NC president) Farooq Abdullah is our senior leader, he will take the decision (on seat-sharing) and will seek justice Justice. I had hoped he would keep the party and put aside interests,” she said. But she added that the national conference decided to unilaterally contest all three seats in Kashmir.

Ms Mufti said her party might have decided not to field a candidate in the larger interest of Kashmir if the National Conference had consulted the People’s Democratic Party before announcing the decision.

“If they had to take the same decision, if they thought they had a better voice than the People’s Democratic Party to raise the issues of the people of Kashmir, then they should have told me two months ago that they wanted to contest themselves and told me if not field candidates, then maybe for the greater good we won’t run,” she said.

“But the way Omar (Abdullah) announced this decision without giving us our trust hurts my workers and breaks their hearts,” she added.

The National Conference last month announced that it would contest all Lok Sabha seats in the Valley.

At a press conference yesterday, Omar Abdullah slammed the media for trying to create a rift between the National Congress and the People’s Democratic Party.

“Why are you letting the People’s Democratic Party fight us? Did the People’s Democratic Party say anywhere that they will contest the elections? It’s you people who are fueling this. I heard Mehbooba Mufti’s speech in Delhi, She said Mr. Farooq, we are together and we will not break the Indian alliance. Why are you asking us to fight?” he asked.

He also said the National Conference’s decision to contest all three seats in Kashmir was based on who had won the previous elections.

This puts Congress in a difficult position. Now it must decide whether to support the People’s Democratic Party or the National Congress. The People’s Democratic Party’s decision will also add a punch to the BJP’s campaign against the Indian Union, whose members are pitted against each other in states including Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal.