NC locks Cong out of Kashmir

JAMMU: Eliminating the already slim chances of conceding any of the three Valley seats to the Congress in the highly-speculated pre-poll alliance, the National Conference (NC) on Tuesday announced former Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi as its candidates from the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency.

With party president Farooq Abdullah contesting from the Srinagar-Budgam constituency and former Speaker of the state assembly Muhammad Akbar Lone contesting from the Baramulla-Kupwara constituency, the major regional player has locked out the national party from Kashmir Valley, as it had asserted a couple of days ago.

The decision on Masoodi’s name came at the meeting of the parliamentary board of the NC which was held at party's head office at Nawai-Subha in Srinagar Tuesday evening.

"The party has decided to field Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi from the Anantnag-Pulwama parliamentary constituency," NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar informed.

The 65-year-old former judge, who retired in January 2016, is currently serving as the chairman of Selection-cum-Oversight Committee under the Juvenile Justice Act.

In Oct 2015, Justice Masoodi had ruled that Article 370, granting special status to the state, is permanent.

"Article 370 though titled as 'Temporary Provision' and included in Para XXI titled 'Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions' has assumed place of permanence in the Constitution," a division bench of justices Hasnain Masoodi and Janak Raj Kotwal had ruled.

"It is beyond amendment, repeal or abrogation, in as much as Constituent Assembly of the State before its dissolution did not recommend its Amendment or repeal," the bench had added.

When asked on the speculated alliance with Congress, Sagar said that the party is in talks with the Congress and has left the decision on it to its president.

"The parliamentary board of the party has authorised Abdullah to take a final decision on the alliance," the NC general secretary said.

The NC has not yet announced the candidates for the remaining three seats -- two in the Jammu region and one in the Ladakh region of the state.

NC and Congress have been in talks for the past few days for a pre-poll alliance. While Congress wanted NC to concede Srinagar seat, NC’s vice president Omar Abdullah on Monday had made it clear that his party will not compromise on any of the seats from Kashmir.

Sources said that NC’s strategy to announce its candidates in phases was to keep the door open for a possible tie-up with Congress on two seats-- Udhampur-Doda and Ladakh.

While a formal announcement in this regard is yet to be made, NC has decided to field B R Kundal from Jammu-Poonch constituency, they said.

“The party is building pressure on Congress to agree to its terms on the seat sharing formula. NC can leave remaining two seats to Congress,” they added.

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