Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said they would fight upcoming elections as a part of INDIA alliance and talks are underway with Congress on seat sharing.
Member Parliament Abdullah said the INDIA alliance must be made strong to save the country from destruction.
“If the INDIA alliance could not be strengthened we will ourselves put the nation in trouble”, the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Abdullah told media persons in Srinagar.
He said talks are underway with Congress and in a few days the decision on seat sharing will be communicated to the public.
“There is no doubt we have to make a coalition with the Congress as Omar (Abdullah) sahib is in touch with them and it is very likely a decision will come out in a few days,” he said.
NC Vice President Omar Abdullah later explained that there has been one round of discussion in Delhi with Congress on seat sharing.
“There were certain proposals that were put forth by the Congress which required to be discussed within the National Conference party. One of the proposals that they had has not found acceptance from the National Conference senior leadership. So, will go back and have a second round of discussion,” Omar said.
He said he always has been pointing out that three seats are anyway held by National Conference so essentially, they will only be discussing three seats Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh.
“So I don’t think it will be too difficult and I am sure in the next round of discussion, will have it concluded,” Omar said.
Jammu and Kashmir used to have six Lok Sabha seats prior to the scraping of Article 370- that gave special status to erstwhile state- in August 2019. In the last Parliament polls in erstwhile J&K, both NC and BJP won three seats each.
The number of Lok Sabha seats in J&K has come down to five, as Ladakh is a separate union territory.
NC President Farooq Abdullah said the coalition with Congress would obviously strengthen the political scenario in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We could not remain lonely; it is a part of the country. We can’t be strengthened alone,” he added.
Asked if some former NC leaders are joining the BJP, the NC President said that “people will come and go. It is not a new saying.. Some will join BJP and some will come out from BJP… it is a part of election. It will have no effect on the National Conference,” he said
Replying to another question regarding BJP’s claim that National Conference will lose all the three seats they occupy in the Parliament, Abdullah said it is up to the people.
Farooq said they want assembly elections to be held in Jammu and Kashmir soon.
“It is very unfortunate that Parliamentary elections could be held.. why not the state Assembly elections,” he asked.
