Srinagar: Alleging that National Conference (NC) denied a winnable Rajya Sabha seat to coalition partner Congress on the behest of BJP, Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) led by Sajad Gani Lone on Tuesday announced that his party will abstain from the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
However, he made it clear that he would vote for Congress or any other secular party, had there been a candidate but will never vote for NC.
The polls are scheduled for October 24 and the NC is expected to easily secure three of the four Rajya Sabha seats based on the current strength of the Legislative Assembly.
However, the contest for the final seat is razor-thin. The Assembly has a strength of 88 MLAs out of which the NC-led ruling coalition has 55.
BJP candidate Sat Sharma needs only three non-BJP MLAs to either abstain or cross-vote to ensure a victory for the saffron party. The BJP has only announced three candidates for the four seats.
Lone questioned the NC’s commitment to fighting the BJP saying “today you are in the dock. You have to prove to the people of J&K that you did not deny a Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress on BJP’s orders. Prove to the people of J&K that you are not sitting in the BJP lap.”
Dismissing Abdullah’s assertion that abstention amounted to tacit support for the BJP, the JKPC chief added, “Your sense of entitlement is synonymous with lunacy.”
He questioned why the NC did not offer a safe Rajya Sabha seat to its alliance partner, Congress. “On one hand, NC claims to be in alliance with Congress, and on the other, they are hand in glove with BJP. At the behest of the BJP, they denied a seat to Congress. Omar is following the Naveen Patnaik model in J&K,” he alleged.
Lone further claimed that a senior official from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently held a three-hour meeting with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, after which, “on BJP’s instructions,” the NC denied the Rajya Sabha seat to Congress.
He added that the Peoples Conference would announce its decision on whom to support in the upcoming Budgam bypolls by Wednesday evening.
The Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir are scheduled for October 24.
The elections for the four seats of Rajya Sabha in J&K have been divided into three notifications. Chowdhury Mohammed Ramzan of the NC will have a direct contest with Ali Mohammed Mir of the BJP in one of the seats.
For the second seat, NC’s Sajjad Kitchloo will fight against Rakesh Mahajan of the BJP.
The third seat will have Imran Nabi Dar of the NC contesting against BJP’s Sat Sharma.
There are two independent candidates also in the fray and all the nomination papers will be scrutinized on October 16.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra on Tuesday accused Omar Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) of “repeated betrayal of trust” and said by denying Congress a safe seat in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, its alliance partner is moving away from the INDIA bloc.
Karra, who chaired an important meeting of the party members on Sunday, spoke in no uncertain terms about the differences with the NC and accused it of having “questionable motives” since the formation of the alliance government in the Union Territory.
“We have submitted our report to the party headquarters for taking further action,” Karra told PTI over phone.
He said the NC’s actions exposed an intent to marginalise Congress while exploiting its support.
During the Sunday meeting, the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress chief gave a detailed breakdown of the partnership with the NC to six MLAs and other office bearers.
“By backtracking on the promise of providing a single safe seat in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections, the National Conference is tactically moving away from the INDIA alliance,” Karra said.
He outlined grievances against the alliance partner’s leadership ahead of the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections on October 24 and termed it as the tipping point.
“The NC president, Farooq Abdullah, had explicitly promised one safe seat to the Congress in recognition of its pivotal role,” he said, adding the denial of this commitment was deemed a “blatant betrayal” and a violation of the fundamental principles of “alliance dharma”.
The NC had announced three candidates for the Rajya Sabha last week and offered the fourth one to the Congress. However, the Congress decided not to file its candidates, prompting the alliance partner to announce the fourth candidate on Monday.
Karra, however, accused the NC of disregarding alliance principles and ultimately betraying its commitment on a crucial Rajya Sabha seat.
“We seek a future where Congress can emerge as a strong, vibrant and independent force, free from the crutches of unreliable alliances,” he said, emphasising that his party’s initial decision to join hands with the NC was driven by the “higher purpose” of restoring dignity and countering divisive forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
The NC has 41 MLAs, and in case the Congress withdraws the support of its six members, the strength of the Abdullah-led government is reduced to 48 in the 90-member assembly. The government is supported by six Independent members and one from the CPI-M.
The opposition bloc consists of the BJP with 28 seats, the PDP with 3 seats, and one MLA each from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference. One seat is held by the party of Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla Rashid Engineer.
With the effective strength of the Assembly at 88 (due to the vacant Nagrota seat following the death of BJP leader Devinder Singh Rana, and the unrepresented Budgam seat after Abdullah chose to retain Ganderbal), the majority mark is now 45.
The Congress chief said that Sunday’s meeting was called for deliberation on the future of his party in Jammu and Kashmir where it can “emerge as a strong, vibrant, and independent force, free from the ‘Baisakhi’ (crutches) of unreliable alliances”.
“As the senior partner, INC made significant sacrifices, particularly during the 2024 Assembly elections. Despite our national stature and organisational strength, we accepted a less-than-fair seat-sharing arrangement, prioritising unity and the broader interests of the nation over our own gains,” he said.
The Congress accepted the unfavourable terms during the 2024 polls as an “elder brother” to prioritise unity, he said, adding, “However, the NC’s actions have repeatedly betrayed this trust, revealing their dubious intentions from the outset.”
Karra also drew the attention of the members on Sunday towards the “provocative” statements by the NC leadership and also termed the statements by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as “intolerable”, referring to his remark during the poll campaign that the Congress leadership should focus outside Kashmir during campaigning.
Most critically, the party highlighted Abdullah’s praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he suggested, “Whatever PM says, he fulfills, so we can bank on him”. The Congress viewed this as signalling a “soft stance toward BJP”, he said.
He also said there was a lack of consultation on statehood and said the NC-led cabinet passed a resolution on statehood restoration without engaging the Congress in meaningful consultation, effectively excluding the coalition partner’s input and undermining its co-stakeholder role.
The outright rejection by the NC of constituting a coordination committee, a standard alliance mechanism for ensuring smooth functioning and addressing the concerns, also indicated sidelining of the Congress workers, he said.
The NC also distanced itself and questioned a powerful, statewide protest launched by the Congress demanding justice and statehood, displaying a “step-backwards attitude” that weakened the collective voice, according to Karra.
