Omar, Azad exchange barbs during poll campaign in Chenab Valley region

Jammu: Slamming National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah for accusing him of helping BJP by dividing secular votes, DPAP chief Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday hit back calling Omar a “tourist to Jammu and Kashmir.”
Omar and Azad exchanged barbs as both are currently campaigning in the Chenab Valley region consisting of the Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts of the Jammu division.
Omar is campaigning for the Congress candidate Chaudhary Lal Singh, whereas Azad is holding rallies in favour of his trusted lieutenant GM Saroori who is the DPAP candidate for the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat.
Omar Abdullah also said that the DPAP has been reduced to a party of only Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency.
It is worth mentioning that the NC, PDP and Congress, which are partners of the INDIA bloc, have been targeting Azad as the “B-team of BJP.”
Omar began the poll campaign for Chaudhary in the Chenab Valley region on Sunday and largely attended roadshows in the area that is considered as the bastion of Azad. He held rallies at Banihal, Batote, Doda, Bhaderwah and several other places.
Hitting back at Omar in a rally at Doda, Azad said that the former is begging for votes in villages of Doda, while he never showed his face to the people here when he was chief minister.
“Omar visits J&K like a tourist when the weather is good. Otherwise he spends summer at his maternal grandparent’s house in London and winters in some other country and that he is not familiar with the politics in J&K.
Azad said that during his term as Chief Minister, Omar used to visit Chenab Valley for five minutes and didn’t visit the area even once during the last many years.
“Have you seen his face in Doda, Bhaderwah and Kishtwar during his tenure as Chief Minister? Has he been here for the last 10 years?” Azad asked people, saying “he (Omar) is visiting every village to seek votes and deceive people one more time.”
Meanwhile, National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah challenged Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls against him, instead of "hiding behind a camera" and making statements targeting his party.
"I challenge him (Azad) to contest (the polls) against me to test his strength. Hiding behind a camera and giving statements (against the NC) is very easy. If he is a man, let him fight against me. I will see how many votes he gets," Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of his roadshow in the Thathri area of Doda district.
Braving inclement weather, the NC leader carried on with his roadshow in support of Lal Singh, who is contesting the polls on a Congress ticket against Union minister Jitendra Singh.
Asked about Azad's onslaught against the NC in his election rallies, Abdullah claimed that he is doing so at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"We did not speak against Azad (after he left the Congress and floated his own party in 2022) until he started targeting NC president Farooq Abdullah. We considered him as our friend but he turned out to be a friend of the BJP," he said, adding, "It is Azad's compulsion to target the NC as he cannot target the BJP."