Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) leader Ghulam Nabi Azad will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election against the BJP from the Udhampur constituency and has named his trusted lieutenant Ghulam Mohammad Saroori as the party’s candidate for the seat.

The BJP has retained Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh as its candidate for the Udhampur seat.

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Azad’s home town Bhaderwah falls in the Udhampur constituency and initially, there were expectations that he might contest the election from there.

However on Wednesday, Azad announced vice-chairman and former minister Saroori as the party candidate for the Udhampur parliamentary constituency.

While talking to reporters in the Budgam district of central Kashmir, Azad described Saroori as the right choice and one of the most active leaders from the region.

Azad said the party is yet to take a decision on fielding candidates in the other four constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir.

“I have addressed around 650 public meetings in the last one-and-a-half years. So, I have created a level-playing field for my colleagues and some of them will contest,” he added.

Taking a dig at the Congress, Azad said there is no work culture in the party.

“Every day some MLAs or MPs are leaving the party, which means the leadership has become directionless.

On the other hand, the parliamentary board of the National Conference (NC) has decided to contest all the three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir valley, leaving none for the PDP or the Congress. NC’s decision has brought to fore cracks in the INDIA bloc.

The meeting of the parliamentary board was presided by Dr. Farooq Abdullah. Party’s vice-president Omar Abdullah was also present. The NC has left the two seats of Jammu and one of Ladakh for negotiations with the Congress.

The BJP recently announced Dr. Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma as its candidates for the Udhampur and Jammu seats, respectively. However, the candidates for the three seats of Kashmir are yet to be announced.

The Congress is so far undecided on its candidates for any of the Lok Sabha seats in J&K and Ladakh.