Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi with Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) president Farooq Abdullah, during a meeting in Srinagar
| Photo Credit: ANI
A day after the National Conference (NC) and Congress announced a pre-poll alliance, NC vice president Omar Abdullah on Friday (August 23, 2024) said both the parties were “stuck on some seats”.
“To a large extent, consensus has been achieved on 90 seats of J&K. However, on some seats, the local leaders of the Congress are adamant. We are also insisting on some. We will sit down and bring these seats too within the ambit of alliance,” Mr. Omar Abdullah said.
The top leadership of the Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, met the NC leaders Dr. Farooq Abdullah and his son Mr. Omar Abdullah, at latter’s residence in Srinagar on Thursday and announced the decision to forge a pre-poll alliance.
However, party sources said the Congress was insisting on a sizable share from the Kashmir valley’s 47 seats. The Assembly of J&K has 90 seats, with 47 in the Kashmir valley and 43 in the Jammu division.
One local leader suggested that the Congress was insisting on a minimum of 11 seats, mostly in south Kashmir and central Kashmir. However, the NC was reluctant to concede those seats to the Congress “where it has not performed well in the past”.
The Congress has never won more than five seats in Kashmir valley in the past. It has a vote bank in Dooru, Kokernag, Uri, and Bandipora. However, sources said the Congress demands a ticket from south Kashmir’s Tral and a ticket from Srinagar, which the NC considers its bastion.
Current Congress State president Tariq Hameed Karra comes from Srinagar and has defeated Dr. Farooq Abdullah from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat in 2014 by 40,000 on the PDP ticket.
Earlier this year, the NC-Congress combine jointly contested the five Lok Sabha seats in J&K. It was leading from 34 seats out of 54 Assembly segments. Between the two parties, NC managed 22.2% votes (11.47 lakh) and Congress 19.3% votes (9.98 lakh).
Meanwhile, senior NC leader Sakina Itoo filed her nomination papers for the Damhal Hanjipora Assembly seat of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. He was accompanied by Mr. Omar Abdullah.
“We have the best manifesto and five-year agenda before the people. It has no match so far. I expect people to vote for us and make our candidates win by a huge margin,” Mr. Omar Abdullah said.
Meanwhile, PDP leader Dr. Mehboob Beg, who also filed his nomination papers from the Anantnag constituency, said, “People not alliance is a strength. We all will take our agendas to people and they will decide where they want to repose faith. Voters need to assess who represents their aspirations and sentiments. People need to judge us from our performance,” Mr. Beg said.
J&K will witness a three-phase election to elect its Assembly as a Union Territory (UT). In the first phase on September 18, 24 Assembly of Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian, Kulgam, Ramban, Kishtwar and Doda districts will go to vote.
