In J-K, third front led by Ghulam Nabi Azad poised to rise before LS polls as INDIA totters

To take on the ruling BJP as well as the Opposition INDIA bloc in Jammu and Kashmir in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, three local parties – Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), Altaf Bukhari’s J&K Apni Party and the Sajjad Lone-led J&K Peoples Conference – are set to forge an alliance and form a third front in the Union Territory.

Highly-placed sources told The Indian Express that top leaders of the three parties have been in talks to discuss the possibility of fielding consensus candidates in all the five Lok Sabha seats of the UT, including three seats in the Kashmir Valley and two in the Jammu region. They have yet to reach an agreement though.

Apni Party general secretary Rafi Mir said Tuesday that they have “proposed to talk to various like-minded parties who want to work for the prosperity of the people of J&K”.

DPAP chief spokesperson Salman Nizami said the “talks with like-minded parties were at initial stage”. “A final decision will be taken by DPAP chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad in the coming days,” he added.

The first signal came during an “extraordinary meeting’’ of the Apni Party in Srinagar Monday, where the party authorised its president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari to “explore the possibility of alliance with the like-minded parties’’.

Sources said the three-party alliance is likely to be headed by DPAP chief Ghulam Nabi Azad, the fomer Congress stalwart and ex-chief minister, claiming that several former legislators and ministers from other parties, including Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would join it.

Once formed, the alliance is likely to pose a formidable challenge to the INDIA bloc in J&K. A slew of leaders from the