Srinagar, Mar 17: National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah Sunday said his party was open to a pre-poll alliance with the Congress for Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir if his party were to get to contest the three seats in the Valley.
“We have had a proposal for an alliance but we have made it clear that National Conference will field its candidates on the three Lok Sabha seats in the valley,” Abdullah told reporters at a party function in Khanabal in Anantnag district.
The former chief minister said he has conveyed to the Congress his party’s willingness to discuss the other three seats — two in Jammu and one in Ladakh region — of the state.
“Let us see what response we get from them,” he added.
The parliamentary board of the National Conference is scheduled to meet here on Monday to discuss the probable candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
J&K has six Lok Sabha seats, three in the Valley, two in the Jammu division and one in the Ladakh division.
Abdullah also criticised the Central government for not holding the State Assembly elections simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls.
“It amounts to denying the people of the state their democratic right to form an elected government,” he said.
Commenting on the launch of a new political party by former IAS officer Shah Faesal, Omar said it remains to be seen whether the new party would have something new to offer to the people.
He said it was pointless to expect any forward movement towards the resolution of the Kashmir problem till the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections were over.
Commenting on the ban and the subsequent crackdown on the cadres of the Jamaat-e-Islami in the state, Abdullah said that he never felt the need to ban the Jamaat when he was the chief minister of J&K.
