The National Conference’s acting president and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, on Tuesday ruled out an electoral alliance between his party and the Bharatiya Janata Party or the National Democratic Alliance.
Speaking at a reception organised for him by the NC’s Jammu province wing at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan, he asked his party's rank and file to get rejuvenated for next year’s Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
“We have tied our knot of friendship and camaraderie with the UPA on the basis of our conviction and principles. We’ll stand by it through thick and thin. We are never going to be the allies of those who have blood on their hands, who have committed untold atrocities on the people,” Mr. Abdullah said, referring obliquely to the communal riots that took place over a decade ago during the first term of the BJP’s prime-ministerial candidate Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister.
“Our association with the Congress and the UPA is based on sincerity and principles. Breaking the same would be an act of deceit,” Mr. Abdullah asserted.
He said the NC could have looked the other way if Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been the NDA’s head. “Those days are over. Men like Mr. Vajpayee are not created frequently,” said Mr. Abdullah, who had served as Minister of State for Commerce and External Affairs in the Vajpayee-led NDA government at the Centre.
