Farooq’s ‘open door for NDA’, Omar’s ‘closed window for BJP’

Advantage Congress: Possibility of seat sharing with NC for Jammu on cards

JAMMU: With Lok Sabha contests nearing, the hot debates take centre stage within National Conference party as both senior and junior Abdullahs take to media statements for different public consumption.
As already reported in The News Now in its Feb 16 edition under the caption ‘Father-Son duo on different page for forthcoming LS Polls’, while both Abdullahs still stick to their respective proclamation, with Farooq Abdullah claiming NC to contest all six seats on its own with a ‘door’ opened for NDA alliance later, Omar Abdullah refused even a ‘window’ for BJP saying, “NC’s main focus is to stop and defeat BJP”.
However, in its newer development, Omar today while responding to media queries cleared options and permutations and combinations hitting National Conference for seat sharing.
Of the five parliamentary constituencies in J&K, the NC holds all three in the Valley currently, while the two in Jammu are with the BJP, along with Ladakh.
Congress, taking advantage of the situation chipped in with an offer that seems to be settling with Omar Abdullah even.
It reached out to the National Conference, offering three of the six seats in the Union Territory for the Lok Sabha polls.
Congress has proposed a 3-3 seat sharing formula to the National Conference which seemingly has pushed PDP squeezed to the wall as the party, though being a constituent of INDI bloc sees no room for accommodation.
Omar Abdullah, however, ruled out the possibility of seat sharing with Congress in Kashmir, where it had won all three Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections.
Abdullah said his party was open to an arrangement on the two seats in the Jammu region and one in Ladakh that are currently held by the BJP.
It is in place to mention that the piquant picture of contrasting scenes that emerged on Feb 15 gets more entangled as father-son duos still stand dissimilar pages in their run to Lok Sabha contests.
The grapevine in the political corridors hint towards more surprises likely to spring up in near future with National Conference holding the centre stage and Congress and PDP making rounds till final settlement.

Updated On 2/24/2024 3:21:42 AM