The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Friday announced its vice-president, Omar Abdullah, as its candidate for the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat. It also decided to field senior party leader Aga Syed Ruhulla from Srinagar.
At a press conference in Srinagar, Omar challenged the BJP to field its own candidates in the Kashmir Valley. “For all the talk of (Article) 370, development, normalcy, why not field a BJP candidate in the election, instead of proxies?” he asked. He was referring to a recent meeting between BJP general secretary Tarun Chug, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari and People’s Conference president Sajad Lone, who will be taking on Omar in the Baramulla seat in North Kashmir.
Omar suggested that if the BJP fielded its own candidates in the Valley, they would lose their deposits, and said, “If they do not lose their deposit, I will quit politics.”
“Our contest is not against any individual or candidate. My fight is against the forces standing with those candidates. Our fight is against the BJP and the central government,” he said.
With Friday’s announcement, the NC has declared candidates for all three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir Valley. This comes after a seat-sharing deal between INDIA bloc allies NC and Peoples Democratic Party failed earlier this month. The PDP had previously announced its own candidates from all three constituencies.
The NC does, however, have a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress, under which the former got the three seats in the Valley and the latter got the two seats in Jammu as well as the Ladakh seat.
Baramulla, which goes to the polls on May 20, will see a fight between NC’s Omar, former Rajya Sabha MP Fayaz Ahmad Mir of the PDP, and Sajad Lone of the People’s Conference. NC’s Mohammad Akbar Lone is the sitting MP from the seat.
Regarding his candidature from North Kashmir, Omar said, “The most recent Assembly seat I represented (Beerwah) is also now in the North, thanks to the gerrymandering of the BJP, so it should not be a surprise.”
Srinagar, in central Kashmir, which was NC chief Farooq Abdullah’s constituency, has for a long time been seen as an NC bastion. It will now see Aga Syed Ruhulla representing the party in a fight against the PDP’s Waheed ur Rehman Para. Voting in Srinagar will take place on May 13.
Ruhulla is seen as a vocal young leader from the party. A former Cabinet minister, he is also a Shia cleric with significant sway over the community in Budgam and some parts of Srinagar district. After the announcement of his candidature, he said, “The difficulties that people are suffering here require representation. The challenge is to stand on our feet and fight for our dignity and our constitutional rights.”
The NC had previously announced its candidate for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, Mian Altaf Lahrvi, who will take on PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. The constituency, where NC’s Hasnain Masoodi is the sitting MP, goes to the polls on May 7.
At Friday’s press conference, Omar further targeted the Centre, saying, “They have still not been able to explain the decision to downgrade Jammu and Kashmir from a state to a UT, they could not even explain this in the Supreme Court.”