Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said that unity among the Opposition was nothing but a fantasy for the parties, and that this will give the Bharatiya Janata Party a win in the next Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
“The myth of Opposition unity has been systematically shown for what it is – a chimera,” the National Conference leader said on Twitter on Monday. “It is each one for themselves in 2019 and five more years to BJP.”
This is not the first time Abdullah has predicted that the BJP will retain power at the Centre. After the saffron party’s victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in April, he had said that the Opposition should forget about the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and start planning for the 2024 one.
Abdullah’s statement on Opposition unity came a day before the election to Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat. The Congress has fielded Ahmed Patel for a fifth term in the Upper House, while the BJP’s candidates are its National President Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and former Congress whip in the Gujarat Assembly, Balwantsinh Rajput.
“I can’t remember the last time a Rajya Sabha election was such an attention-grabbing event,” Abdullah said on Tuesday. “This one is a real cliff hanger.”
He also reacted to senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s comments that the party was facing an “existential crisis”. “I hope there are people in the Grand Old Party who sit up and take note of what Jairam is saying,” Abdullah said. “Dismissing his views will be shortsighted.”
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