Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah said Saturday that his party does not have any alliance with Congress and is contesting to win the elections.
“There is no friendly contest. I don’t know anyone who fights elections to lose. I can speak only for National Conference and the seats we are fighting from we are fighting to win. There is no alliance with the Congress,” Omar said while speaking to media persons here.
“I made it very clear that we, like the PDP after us, took the decision that in order to ensure that the secular vote, particularly in the two seats where the BJP was expecting to win, shouldn’t get divided. So, we have chosen not to field candidates from two seats of Jammu. As for the rest of four seats we are preparing for a contest,” Omar said.
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He said the Congress party on its own accord has chosen not to field a candidate against senior leader Dr. Farooq Abdullah. “That was their own decision. But otherwise for Baramulla, for Anantnag and for Kargil Leh seats we will have a contest. And we will contest to win,” Omar said.
He said his party was preparing to field candidates from all six seats of the State. He said senior leaders of Congress appealed to the NC not to field candidates from two seats of Jammu. “If I am not mistaken Azad Sahib (Ghulam Nabi Azad) and Ambika Soni came to Jammu and met Dr Farooq Abdullah in this regard,” he said. “On the basis of that we didn’t field candidates in Jammu. As for the other three seats, we will contest to win,” he added.
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He denied any “fixed match” between the NC, PDP and Congress for six Lok Sabha seats of the state. Omar said he is for elections where there is a vibrant campaign and issues are brought to the fore. “I want elections where we bring our own thoughts and others bring theirs. I don’t want elections where it appears that everything is some sort of a fixed match. It is not a fixed match. I don’t believe fixed match is in the interest of democracy of the state. That is why we are sparing no effort to win these seats,” he added.
He said the arrangement with Congress in Jammu was made possible only by the BJP. He said had there been simultaneous Assembly and Parliamentary elections in the state even the two-seat arrangement wouldn’t have been possible. “In fact, the BJP facilitated this arrangement by sabotaging the Assembly elections in the State,” he said.
“If the BJP had not sabotaged the Assembly elections using their proxies here including the Raj Bhawan, there would have been no seat sharing arrangement,” Omar said.
