Will support third seat announce Mehbooba; chose unity over division, ignoring all dissenting voices says Karra
WAJAHAT SHABIR
SRINAGAR: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress on Thursday extended their support to the National Conference in Rajya Sabha polls.
The elections on four seats in Jammu and Kashmir will be held on Friday.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti announced during a media briefing that her party will extend its third-preference votes to Shami Oberoi in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, saying the decision aims to prevent communal forces from gaining ground and to uphold the larger interests of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing reporters in Srinagar, Mufti confirmed that the PDP would back Shami Oberoi as its third preference in the Rajya Sabha polls. She said the party’s limited strength of three votes still carries “considerable weight” in the current political equation.
“We will give our third-preference votes to Shami Oberoi. We do not want to give it to the fourth seat, because if that seat loses, all the blame will be placed on the PDP as if we did something wrong,” Mufti said. “Our support will go to the third seat, and we expect our partners to adjust accordingly.”
Mufti told the media that the decision followed internal discussions and a recent call from National Conference (NC) President Dr. Farooq Abdullah seeking PDP’s support. She said the PDP agreed in principle but linked its backing to progress on two pending legislative measures — the Land Regularization Bill and the Regularization of Daily Wage Workers Bill.
According to Mufti, the land bill is intended to protect families who have built homes or shops on state land and have faced eviction threats since 2019. “We want these people, many of them from tribal communities, to live with dignity,” she said.
The second bill seeks to regularize long-serving daily wage and contractual workers across departments such as PHE, R&B, health, and education. “Some of them have worked for twenty-plus years on very small wages, without job security,” Mufti noted.
She said the PDP’s decision was guided by principle rather than political convenience. “We are standing with those who want to protect Jammu and Kashmir’s interests, its land, and its people,” Mufti stated. “Our goal is to stop divisive forces at any cost.”
The PDP chief said she hoped the National Conference leadership, including Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, would honor the assurances given to support both bills once they come before the Assembly.
Reiterating that the PDP remains part of the larger INDIA alliance effort, Mufti said the party’s votes will reflect its continued commitment to unity and to safeguarding the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Later in the evening, Congress leaders held a deliberate meeting over the Rajya Sabha polls. The Congress had earlier backed out of Rajya Sabha elections stating that they were not offered safe seat.
After two rounds of deliberations—one held yesterday and another today—and following detailed consultations with our central leadership, who had sought certain clarifications and inputs from us, we have collectively arrived at a decision, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee President Tariq Karra told reporters.
Taking into account our sensitivities as a suffering state and our identity as a tested voice for a diverse and secular India, the Congress Party has decided to keep all differences with the National Conference on the back burner—solely to reaffirm our commitment to our own ethos and principles, he said.
During the 2024 elections, we chose unity over division, ignoring all dissenting voices, to defeat the BJP and free the people of Jammu and Kashmir from a climate of fear and suppression. In keeping with our political culture and moral uprightness, we refuse to act out of expediency, he said.
The upcoming Rajya Sabha elections have posed a new challenge. We sincerely hope that the National Conference keeps its flock together against all temptations and manipulations—and in that endeavor, we extend our full support. All our 6 congress MLAs will support NC, he said.
