Omar Abdullah said that whatever the flaws of this assembly, it is still better than what we have.
Srinagar:
Soon after National Conference chief Omar Abdullah termed the seat-sharing agreement with ally Congress as “tight”, he said he was surprised that the BJP, which prides itself on discipline, could unhindered its Failed to announce candidates.
“It was very unusual for him to have broken furniture in his office and almost riot. But then, I'm not surprised, when you suddenly change all your senior leaders, you get There will be trouble,” said Mr. Abdullah. .
The BJP had released a list of 44 candidates for the three-phase polls to the 90 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, but scrapped it and released a list of 15 names – candidates for the first phase.
The change came after widespread protests from local leaders. The list, which was deleted, included the names of leaders who had left Congress, National Conference, PDP and Panthers Party.
“When you give turncoats, you reward people who have left other parties and come and join you… shame. I've never seen a situation where a party is 10 minutes away.” Ind had to withdraw his list, the cut list,” said Mr. Abdullah.
On the challenges facing the Indian alliance – the Congress had to fly in two central leaders, KC Venugopal and Salman Khurshid, at the eleventh hour – Mr Abdullah said the two parties were new to him.
Mr. Abdullah said that distribution of seats is not easy for any party. But for current National Conference leaders, including himself, the pre-election seat-sharing was a first, he said, pointing out that the last time it happened was in the 1980s.
“This is the first time that I have held any discussions for seat-sharing arrangements, and with the fact that we have not held assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir for 10 years,” Mr. Abdullah said. said “It was never easy, but all credit goes to the Congress and National Conference negotiators, we got to where we are,” he added.
The two parties broke the deal late in the evening – hours before the deadline for first-phase nominations.
The National Conference will contest 51 of the 90 Assembly seats, the Congress will contest 32. The five seats on which they disagree will be a friendly contest between the parties, leaving two seats for the CPM and the Panthers Party.
Jammu and Kashmir, where elections are being held after a decade, is heading for a three-way contest between the BJP, Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party and the National Conference-Congress alliance.
In 2014, the BJP formed a ruling alliance with the PDP after the election results produced a hung house. But the alliance between the two ideologically similar parties was short-lived and Jammu and Kashmir came under President's Rule in 2018.
The biggest surprise in this election is the participation of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami candidates who are contesting the elections as independents.
“I think this is an important development,” Mr Abdullah said. “An organization that has spent the last 30 years telling the people of Kashmir that elections are 'haram', that they should not participate in elections, that Jammu and Kashmir should not be part of India, today Willing to take the same oath on the Constitution of India that the mainstream political parties have taken, this is a huge step forward.
About his decision to contest the assembly polls, the former chief minister said, “I am not coming under the powers of the chief minister and all that… In the end, if I believe that I am the leader of the National Conference, then “I must lead.”
From the perspective of the assembly, he said it would be “hypocritical” or “seen as a hypocrite” if he told people “I don't believe in this assembly, but you should vote”.
“Whatever flaws this assembly has, it is still better than the one we had. This assembly may not be the assembly it was in 2018, but it is still an assembly that will speak for those who are theirs. Will fight for rights. This is an assembly that will bring back the state of Jammu and Kashmir, we will start from there.
The 54-year-old will contest from Ganderbal.