Amid the speculations of him quitting the party, Devender Singh Rana, top National Conference (NC) leader from the Jammu region, on Wednesday met party president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah at their residence in Srinagar.
Sources said Mr. Rana, during the meeting, had dropped broad hints at leaving the party “to safeguard and assert Dogra interests” in Jammu. The NC has remained silent about the meeting.
However, Mr. Rana, in a brief interaction with the media after the meeting, said, “As I talk to you, I am still a part of the NC. I would share the details with the media when there is anything.”
Mr. Rana, who is party's provincial president and in-charge of the Jammu, is a prominent face of the party. However, his recent meetings with Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan chief and ex-MP Choudhary Lal Singh and former Peoples Democratic Party leader Surinder Choudhary have fuelled speculations that he was cobbling together a new grouping on the lines of the Gupkar alliance in Jammu.
If Mr. Rana decides to exit the NC, it will be a major jolt for the party's poll prospects in Jammu. He will also be the first senior leader to leave the party, which was able to keep their leaders within the fold even after the Centre ended J&K’s special constitutional position on August 5, 2019, unlike the Peoples Democratic Party that witnessed an exodus of its leaders to Sajad Lone's PC and Altaf Bukhari's Apni Party.
Mr. Rana is also the brother of senior BJP leader Jitendra Singh, who serves as Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.
