With the National Conference (NC) hardening its position on seat sharing, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance bloc, headed by the Congress, remains on the edge in J&K and Ladakh.
The NC on February 27 again hinted at sticky points surfacing during the first round of dialogue held with the Congress recently by the party vice president Omar Abdullah in New Delhi.
“There were certain proposals put forth by the Congress. They are required to be discussed within the party. One of the proposals has not found acceptance by the party’s senior leadership,” Mr. Abdullah said.
The NC expects to hold the second round of talks with the Congress this week. “We will go back to the table and have a discussion. J&K and Ladakh have only six seats. Three seats are held by the NC already. I don’t think it will be difficult in the next round of discussion. We will have it concluded,” Mr. Abdullah said.
At present, the three Parliamentary seats from the Kashmir valley are held by the NC and two by the BJP. The Ladakh seat is with the BJP. With the NC and the Congress winning the Ladakh Hill Development Council-Kargil election together in 2023, the NC is also negotiating over it. There are twin hill councils in Ladakh and the BJP rules the LAHDC-Leh.
Sources within the Congress suggested that it proposed to share seats between NC, Congress and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Congress has proposed to have another INDIA ally, the PDP, contesting from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, where the PDP considers itself stronger. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti represented the Anantnag Parliament seat twice in 2004 and 2014.
The Congress has not formally approached the PDP yet for seat sharing. However, backchannels between the two parties are on, sources said.
“Our position within the INDIA bloc was that Dr. Farooq Abdullah, being the senior most politician from J&K, would take a call. However, we did not expect Dr. Abdullah to claim all the seats and push us out. We are essentially political rivals and expected political maturity from the NC. The PDP has been a dominant political force in J&K for more than two decades,” a PDP leader told The Hindu, on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Dr. Abdullah on February 27 renewed the pledge to stay within the INDIA bloc. “There is no doubt we have to have an alliance with the Congress. We will fight together with the I.N.D.I.A alliance to safeguard the country,” Dr. Abdullah said.
Dr. Abdullah’s remarks on February 15 this year had the INDIA bloc on the shaky ground in the UT. He had said his party will contest “on its own strength” and “won’t have a pre-poll alliance” in J&K.
