Pulwama, Apr 22: National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah on Monday declared that the party is contesting parliamentary elections against the “forces spreading politics of hate and fear-mongering” across the country to cause polarisation among different communities.
Omar said this in the D K Pora village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district while campaigning for the party candidate for the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency.
In his address, the NC leader said they were not compelled to align with the INDIA bloc, Congress and other parties to fight these elections jointly. “We decided to fight together because we were anticipating the future conditions and the challenges they will pose,” he said.
Taking a dig at the People’s Democratic Party, Omar said, “Unfortunately, some people were associated with us and they weighed the alliance in the seat-sharing balance.”
The former chief minister said he is accused of being selfish for not reserving the Anantnag-Rajouri seat for PDP. He said the Congress and CPI(M)’s Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami announced their support for NC’s candidate for the Anantnag -Rajouri Parliamentary constituency.
“Were these two also self-centred? Why didn’t Congress support PDP if we were self-interested?” he questioned, saying that PDP proved itself egoistic by striving to reserve the seat through PAGD or INDIA.
Omar revealed that a formula was devised for the sharing of seats during DDC elections which were held two years ago. As per this formula, the mandate was decided on the basis of the 2014 assembly election results.
He said the PDP announced its DCC candidates from Shopian without consulting NC because, in the 2014 assembly elections, they had no MLA from these two southern constituencies. In the same manner, the mandate for the 2024 parliamentary elections was decided on the basis of the 2019 election results, he explained.
“In the 2019 parliamentary elections, NC had won the Anantnag seat so clearly it was our right to decide the candidate for the constituency,” Omar said, adding that they applied the same logic which was used for sharing of DDC seats and that he doesn’t find any selfishness in it.
He reminded PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, “Had we been self-centred we wouldn’t have offered support to PDP in 2015. After the 2015 election results, NC and Congress offered unconditional support to Mufti Mohammed Sayeed for the government formation. But, the PDP leaders at the time turned down our offer saying that NC wants to wrest control of the government through the backdoor,” Abdullah said, adding that they were taunted for sitting in the opposition.
He said that when the PDP was disintegrating in 2016 due to defections and desertions, it was NC which met the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and urged him to stop this politics of distortion.
“Were we selfish then?” Omar asked. He revealed that in 2018, PDP sought NC’s support for making Altaf Bukhari the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. “It was not the selfishness of NC to consent to the proposal by signing the letter within no time and dispatch it to the Governor’s office,” he said.
He reminded Mufti that she used to heap bundles of praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, describing him as the only person who could solve the problems of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “Did he solve the issues and did the people get any respite? he asked.
