NC digs in heels on seat-sharing in J&K, Congress faces heat from another INDIA ally

The National Conference (NC) on Thursday said it would contest all three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir Valley and had “informally discussed” seat sharing with the Congress in the Jammu region.

“We have no connection with the NDA,” NC vice-president Omar Abdullah said. “Neither are we going to knock on their doors in the future nor are our doors open for them. Today, our focus is to stop the BJP and, for this, we have informally discussed seat-sharing with the Congress.”

Omar’s clarification that his party continues to be a part of the INDIA alliance came after his father and NC president Farooq Abdullah said, “As far as seat-sharing is concerned, I want to make one thing clear, the National Conference will contest on its own.”

Apart from being a part of the INDIA bloc nationally, the NC is also a member of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) in J&K. The Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the other INDIA and PAGD party with a strong presence in the Valley, in its response emphasised that “responsible political parties” should “rise above their differences and profit-loss analysis”.

The NC’s position rules out a seat-sharing agreement in the Valley while leaving discussions open for the Jammu, Udhampur, and Ladakh parliamentary seats. The PDP has minimal presence in the Jammu region and has no presence in Ladakh. 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. NC leaders, including Omar, are of the view that only the seats currently not with the party should be up for discussion. Of the Valley seats, only Anantnag in south Kashmir has previously been a PDP stronghold and was represented