Srinagar. National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Sunday said his party has formed an alliance with the Congress for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections to give people a choice and avoid a hung assembly. As per the seat-sharing agreement in the alliance, the NC is contesting on 51 seats and the Congress on 32 seats while one seat has been given to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M). The remaining six seats are a “friendly contest” between Congress and NC.
Talking to reporters at a shikara rally organised at Dal Lake in support of party candidate from Zadibal seat Tanveer Sadiq, Omar said, “Maybe they have something that allows them to see what has gone into the (EVM) machines, we don’t know what has gone into the machines, we have heard from people, there is no scope for a hung election.” He said, “We could have formed an alliance after the election, but the alliance has been formed (before the election) to give people an option so that there is no hung assembly and there is no scope for doubt that the government will not be formed.”
Also read: Tirupati Laddu Controversy. PIL filed in Supreme Court for investigation, Sadhguru also reacted
Omar claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would want a hung assembly as it would give it an excuse to extend the Lieutenant Governor’s rule. He said, “The BJP would want a hung assembly so that it gets an excuse to prolong the (Lieutenant Governor’s) rule but the people will not let this happen.”
When Omar was asked why the top BJP leaders are not campaigning in Kashmir like in Jammu, he said that the BJP knows that it will get nothing in the valley. The former Chief Minister said, “The BJP has nothing in Kashmir, it will get nothing from Kashmir. We are also well aware of the BJP’s attitude towards Muslims. 16 percent of the country’s population is Muslim and they (BJP leaders) could not find a single Muslim person who could be made a minister at the Centre, when there is no representation of this population, then we know what kind of thinking they have towards Muslims.”
The NC vice president alleged that the BJP was raising the issue of “rule of three families” in Jammu and Kashmir to hide its failures. “Jammu and Kashmir has got nothing in the last five years. The BJP has nothing to show. So the prime minister and the home minister are forced to target three families. If they had done something, they would not have to do this,” he said. Omar said the government should consider the low voter turnout this year in some areas of Kashmir compared to the 2014 assembly elections.
Also read: Uday Bhanu Chib became the new president of Indian Youth Congress, Kharge appointed him with immediate effect
The NC leader said, “There were some areas where the voting percentage was less than 2014. For example, in Noorabad (now D H Pora) segment, there was 80 per cent voting in 2014, but this time it was 20 per cent less (68 per cent). The present government will have to think about why it happened this time despite there being no boycott, but according to them everything is normal.” When asked about the visit of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to Kashmir on Monday, Omar said it was good. He suggested that the Leader of Opposition should make some more visits to take on the BJP.
