Is NC-Congress Deal Off?

Slight Possibility: Both sides wait for first break

JAMMU: A week-long talks held in twin capitals of state as well in New Delhi involving top most leaderships of the two parties seemingly failed to bear any fruit for the much-anticipated pre-polls alliance between National Conference and Congress, as the former today deciding to contest all the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir.

The decision came at the meeting of the parliamentary board of the NC which was held at Srinagar Monday evening, where it also announced names of two of its candidates.

However, in what is a very slim possibility of the possible alliance firming up, the party has left the final decision on party's patron Farooq Abdullah for any possible tie-up, informed sources told this scribe, quite similar to the Congress, which has asked Rahul Gandhi to take a final call for Jammu and Kashmir.

The new development came a day after NC vice president Omar Abdullah asserted that his party will not settle for anything less than all the three Lok Sabha constituencies in Kashmir Valley, while it was open to discuss with Congress the other three seats -- two in Jammu and one in Ladakh region -- of the state.

The two parties have been in talks for the past few days for a pre-poll alliance.

“Seemingly, the talks could not move as there were differences over seat-sharing,” sources said.
There are six Lok Sabha seats in the state, three — Baramulla, Srinagar and Anantnag — in Kashmir, two — Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda — in Jammu, and one in Ladakh.

While NC was not ready to move from three Kashmir seats along with Jammu-Poonch constituency seat from where it had already declared B R Kundal as its candidate, it was ready to concede the other two seats to Congress.

The Congress on the other hand, had a similar formula: keep four seats to itself and offer NC the remaining two.

“The talks had reached a level where the Congress was ready to settle for a three-each sharing but it wanted NC to concede Srinagar seat which NC was not okay with,” a senior leader who was a part of these negotiations told The News Now.

Whatever hopes were left, diminished on Monday when NC parliamentary board announced its president Farooq Abdullah’s candidature from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, besides naming Mohammad Akbar Lone as its candidate from the Baramulla constituency.

“The board met at the NC's headquarters 'Nawa-e-Subha'. The meeting was chaired by Abdullah. The board members were unanimously of the opinion that the party should contest all the six parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir,” a NC spokesman said.

“The board has decided to field Abdullah from the Srinagar-Budgam constituency, and senior leader and former speaker of the state assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone from the Baramulla constituency,” he said.

The names of the candidates for other constituencies will be finalised in the next meeting of the board, the spokesman said.

If sources are to be believed, new entrant Peer Mohammad Hussain-- who recently defected from PDP—would be the NC’s candidate for Anantnag constituency, even as B R Kundal will fight in Jammu-Poonch constituency, thus quashing all the hopes of both parties coming together at a middle point.

But, in what could be seen as a possible opportunity for a tie-up, NC sources said the party's Parliamentary Board left the final decision on party's patron Farooq Abdullah. "based on the national scenario".

“The NC parliamentary board, which met here on Monday, also authorised the party president to take a final decision on any coalition with "secular forces taking into account the national political situation", according to the spokesman.

Similarly, the Congress has also asked its national president Rahul Gandhi to take the final call on the possible alliance.

“For any alliance or seat-sharing arrangement with NC, the decision lies with the party high command,” J&K Congress president, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, said.

“Our party is equally strong in all three regions of the state,” he said, adding that people of the state “are with Congress as the party is fighting the divisive agenda of saffron parties”.

Sources informed this scribe that Congress wants to field Asgar Ali Karbalai or Rigzin Spalbar from Ladakh, while from Udhampur-Doda constituency, it would field Vikramaditya Singh.

If NC had conceded Srinagar seat, the congress would have fielded Tariq Hamid Karra from there, they said.

Meanwhile, sources said that the PDP has opened channels with the Congress high command, offering unconditional support in the Jammu province.

"The party leadership is mulling over supporting the Congress nominees in the two Lok Sabha seats in Jammu province Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda," said a senior PDP leader on condition of anonymity.