Moments after NC chief Farooq Abdullah said that the party would go solo in Jammu and Kashmir in the Lok Sabha elections, party vice-president Omar Abdullah clarified on Thursday that the NC continues to be with the opposition alliance and there was no question of going with the BJP-led NDA.
In a hurriedly convened media interaction in Srinagar, Omar with his father Farooq Abdullah by his side said, “We were a part of the INDIA alliance and we still are. Things have been taken out of context by the media. The main idea of the grouping is to defeat the BJP for there is no point in sailing in two boats.”
“I would like to make it very clear that our commitment to the INDIA alliance remains even though some founding members of the alliance have quit in the past few days. We have been targeting the BJP for what they have done with J&K. Not even our single door or window is open for NDA.
“On the seat sharing, we have been very clear for the last few months, the seats that will be discussed are those three that are held with BJP, we are firm on that position. These seats are two in Jammu and one in Ladakh,” he said.
There will be no discussion on the three Lok Sabha seats that the NC is holding in Kashmir. These seats are already with the INDIA alliance and we have to chalk out the strategy to win the three seats that the BJP won in the last elections.
“What Party chief Farooq Abdullah said was a reflection of what the party cadre feels. NC has made no secrets about the fact that they would rather fight elections on all seats, but the truth is that sometimes for a bigger objective, small sacrifices have to be made. If the bigger objective is to win seats back from the BJP, then if it is necessary for NC to enter into seat sharing with Congress, our doors are open. We have not yet had any formal discussion with Congress (on seat sharing), informally some dialogues have taken place.
“There is scope for further discussions. As far as NDA is concerned, we are not the sort of a party that has our feet in multiple boats, once we make friends, we stick to those friends,” he said.
He said the NC is in talks with the Congress for an arrangement in three of the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Omar Abdullah’s statement came shortly after NC chief Farooq Abdullah told reporters that the party would contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and possible assembly polls in the Union Territory on its own.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jammu next week, he said, “We will also get to know how much development has happened in Jammu and Kashmir.” He said the Prime Minister should start his theory of one nation, one election from Jammu and Kashmir by holding the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously.