Srinagar: While the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said the results of the upcoming elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in the Union Territory will reveal which parties support or oppose the BJP, the opposition parties questioned his “arrogance” saying how could he make such a statement when he has not once, in first year of governance, had any interaction with opposition parties, even with his coalition partner, Congress.
Reacting to CM’s statement that “This election will reveal who is a supporter of the BJP and who is an opponent of the BJP.” Even the coalition party Congress said, there was no communication with NC chief during first year of rule.
Not a single party has shown support to the BJP over the last one year, and on its own, it cannot win even one seat,” Abdullah told reporters here.
The chief minister said if the BJP manages to win any of the seats, it would be due to “money power, muscle power and power of the agencies”.
Responding to a query, the chief minister said there was no question of sidelining party president Farooq Abdullah.
“He is an asset and the tallest leader of Jammu and Kashmir… He is one of the most respected leaders of the country. Who would dare to refuse Farooq Sahib if he wanted to contest Rajya Sabha polls?” he said.
The chief minister also ruled out the NC president contesting the Budgam assembly by-election, saying, “a person who decided not to contest Rajya Sabha would not put himself through the rigours of an assembly election campaign”.
On the candidates for the Budgam and Nagrota bypolls, the chief minister said these will be named in due course.
Meanwhile, the National Conference on Monday named party spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar as its fourth candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir after the Congress, which is part of the ruling alliance, declined to nominate anyone.
Biennial elections to fill the seats, lying vacant since 2021, will be held on October 24.
“JKNC state spokesperson @ImranNDar will be the official party nominee for the 4th Rajya Sabha seat,” the National Conference posted on its official handle.
Earlier, the party’s three candidates — Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo and Gurwinder Singh alias Shammi Oberoi — filed their nominations before the returning officer for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the NC decided to field its candidate for the fourth seat after the Congress declined to field a candidate.
Meanwhile, all the four NC candidates on Monday also submitted their nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections.
