Mehbooba Mufti lashed out at National Conference leader Omar Abdullah
Srinagar:
Weeks ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls, Jammu and Kashmir has joined the list of states where INDIA allies are contesting against each other. The Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has decided to go solo in the Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir.
Announcing the decision at a press meet, Ms. Mufti said her party will contest the three seats in the Kashmir Valley and will soon take a decision on the contestation of the two parliamentary seats in Jammu. She also lashed out at the National Conference of Allies for its ‘unilateral’ decision to contest all seats in Kashmir.
The move comes after the National Conference announced that it will contest all three seats in Kashmir and named Mian Altaf as its candidate for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat.
She hit out at the National Conference and its leader Omar Abdullah, saying: “The National Conference and Omar Abdullah left us no option.”
She said that at this juncture there is a need 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 meeting took place in Mumbai, I said there that since (NC President) Farooq Abdullah is our senior leader, he will take a decision (on seat sharing) and do justice. I had hoped he would keep the party. interests aside,” she said. But the National Conference decided to unilaterally contest all three seats in Kashmir, she added.
Ms. Mufti said if the National Conference had consulted the PDP before announcing the decision, her party could have decided not to field candidates in the larger interest of Kashmir.
“If they had to take the same decision, if they thought they had a better voice than the PDP to raise the issues of the people of Kashmir, they should have told me two months ago that they wanted to contest themselves and had to tell me not to field candidates, then maybe, because of the greater interest, we wouldn’t have contested,” she said.
“But the way Omar (Abdullah) announced the decision without taking us into confidence hurt my employees and broke their hearts,” she added.
The National Conference last month announced that it will contest all Lok Sabha seats in the Valley.
At a press briefing yesterday, Omar Abdullah had criticized the media for trying to create a rift between the National Conference and the PDP.
“Why are you letting the PDP fight us? Has the PDP said anywhere that they will contest elections? It is you who are fueling this. I heard Mehboba Mufti’s speech in Delhi, she said Farooq sahib and we are together and we will not break the INDIA alliance. Why are you trying to make us fight?’ he asked.
He also said that 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 PDP or the National Conference. The PDP’s decision will also give impetus to the BJP’s campaign against the INDIA alliance as the bloc’s members are pitted against each other in multiple states including Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal.