Omar Abdullah may do a volte-face, drops hints on contesting J&K assembly polls

Srinagar, Aug 26 (PTI) National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah, who had vowed not to participate in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections till restoration of statehood, Monday dropped major hints on his likely participation in the polls for the Union Territory assembly, saying he cannot expect people to vote for his party if he himself does not accept the legislative body.

Speaking to media after the NC and Congress announced the seat-sharing arrangement, Abdullah said he does not want to send out a “wrong signal” by asking his party colleagues to contest and the people to cast their votes for an assembly “that I may be suggesting that I look down upon”.

“I am conscious of one thing which I had not thought over fully, which is my mistake. If I was not ready to contest election for an assembly, how can I get the people ready to vote for that assembly?

“How can I hope that my colleagues will seek votes for an assembly which I am not ready to accept or may be suggesting that I look down upon? It has put a pressure on me and I do not want to give a wrong signal to the people,” he said.

Abdullah asked the media persons to give him a day or two. “You will get to know when the party releases the list.”

Before the announcement of the polls, the NC leader had vowed not to contest elections for the UT assembly as he had headed a state assembly as chief minister in a unified J&K that included Ladakh.

However, there are speculation that Abdullah might contest from his family bastion of Ganderbal in central Kashmir from where he had won the 2008 assembly polls.

On Sunday, at a joining function in Ganderbal, Abdullah was requested by party leaders to reconsider his decision of not contesting the polls. They also suggested he could contest from Ganderbal.

However, on Monday the NC vice president said, “I am talking with my colleagues about this.”

Asked about the NC-Congress alliance and the announcement of a “friendly contest” on five seats between the alliance partners in J-K, Abdullah said those five seats were difficult for both the parties to leave for the alliance.

“Three seats are those which were difficult for us to leave and two seats are those which were difficult for Congress to take a decision on. So, we decided that both the parties will field their candidates on those five,” he said.

The NC leader also said the alliance faced another problem during the negotiations as the CPI(M) wanted to fielded a candidate from Devsar constituency as well.

“We would have had problems in Kulgam (which the alliance has allotted to CPI(M)’s M Y Tarigami) and we thought we have to fight a friendly contest there as well. But, Farooq Abdullah talked to Tarigami and requested him that there shouldn’t be any candidate from Devsar and he has accepted. So, we have left Kulgam seat for Tarigami,” he added.

Asked if there was any issue between the alliance partners over the NC’s manifesto, Abdullah said there was none.

“None whatsoever. Let me be categorical, at no point in time did the Congress party raise any objections to our manifesto,” he said.

In the initial stages of the discussions, at the local level, the Congress had asked whether they should have a common minimum programme, he said.

“We told them very clearly that a CMP (common minimum programme) is always arrived at after you receive a verdict from the people, after you win election and, therefore, obviously we are fighting this election to win. If the NC and the Congress receive the support of the people, then we will form a CMP for the governance for next five years,” Abdullah said.

He said the NC has neither discussed its manifesto with the Congress nor has it asked its alliance partner what they are going to include in their manifesto.

To a question about the BJP’s criticism of the NC’s manifesto, Abdullah said the BJP is expected to say such things.

“Do you think the BJP will put its stamp on our manifesto? The BJP should see inwards.

“Today, what their situation was, I have seen it for the first time that the BJP deleted a (mandate) list within ten minutes of issuing it. Today, chairs were broken in their office. The BJP should set its own house in order,” he said.

Asked why the PDP is not a part of the alliance, he said it was the Congress’ decision to make.

“The Congress is the biggest partner in the INDIA bloc and it found convenient to talk to us. How can I force them to talk to someone else? They did not mention the PDP and so the issue was put to an end there,” he said.

On the Centre’s decision to create five districts in Ladakh, Abdullah said he congratulates the people there.

“However, we will have to see what is the ratio that they have applied. We have always tried to give equal to both Kargil and Leh.

“But, if they have created five districts, then somewhere there will be some discord. So, we will have to see where the injustice has been done,” he added.