“I’m disappointed with what Omar Abdullah said about the PDP,” she added. The former CM further confirmed that her party would now enter the contest on its own.
Jammu: In another jolt to the fledgling INDIA bloc, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mehbooba Mufti announced on Wednesday that they will pitch their candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The development came after National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah said that they would be contesting elections for all three seats in Kashmir. The announcement have put an end of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc on cards in the valley.
“We are deeply hurt by the manner in which Omar Abdullah dismissed PDP as the tail runner in the elections. Omar Sahab ridiculed my workers by saying that the NC would field candidates for all three Lok Sabha seats in the Valley as according to him, the PDP existed nowhere,” Mehbooba Mufti told media persons.
She said that most of the senior PDP leaders were lured away by the BJP and all she is left with are her “poor” party workers who have stood by her through thick and thin. “How can I take the insult inflected on them by Omar Abdullah lightly and go by his diktat that the PDP should not field any candidate in the Valley,” she asked.
She said that as the head of the alliance and as the most senior leader, PDP trusted Farooq Abdullah to make a just and reasonable decision on fielding candidates for the Lok Sabha seats. “Omar Abdullah even said that the NC would watch the behaviour of the PDP and then decide whether to form an electoral alliance with us for the assembly elections.
“In Mumbai, I said, Farooq Abdullah is our best representative and he will take the call. Omar Abdullah should have discussed the same with me for greater interest, we were not going to fight over parliamentary elections,” Mufti told reporters in Srinagar.” But the way Omar Abdullah said, PDP doesn’t exist and is nowhere, hurt us. The BJP broke my party completely but Omar’s statement made my workers disappointed. Now my workers are calling me and telling me that we should also pitch our candidates,” Mufti said.
“I’m disappointed with what Omar Abdullah said about the PDP,” she added. The former CM further confirmed that her party would now enter the contest on its own.
The National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party are partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance formed to challenge the BJP in the general elections. The two regional parties are two important constituents of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, formed to restore special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Lok Sabha polls in the Union Territory will be held in the first five phases on April 19 (Udhampur), April 26 (Jammu), May 7 (Anantnag-Rajouri), May 13 (Srinagar) and May 20 (Baramulla).The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.
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