Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that his party was still a member of the Opposition INDIA bloc and their aim is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party, PTI reported.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister was clarifying his party’s stance following National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah’s statement earlier on Thursday that the party would contest the Lok Sabha elections alone.
Omar Abdullah said that his party was in discussions with the Congress for a potential arrangement in three of the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
“We were a part of the INDIA alliance and we still are,” Omar Abdullah said. “Things have been taken out of context. The main idea of the grouping is to defeat the BJP because there is no point sailing in two boats.”
Omar Abdullah said that workers of the National Conference want to fight elections in all six seats. “But the truth is that sometimes for a bigger objective, small sacrifices have to be made,” he said.
It is necessary for his party to enter into a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress if the bigger objective is to win back seats from the BJP, he added.
The National Conference is a member of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance – a coalition of 28 Opposition parties that plans to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the general elections.
On Thursday, Farooq Abdullah said that his party would contest the polls alone.
“As far as seat sharing is concerned, I want to make it clear that the National Conference will contest elections on its own strength,” he said. “There are no two opinions about it. There should be no questions on this anymore.”
Farooq Abdullah made the announcement three days after the Enforcement Directorate summoned him for questioning in a money-laundering case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.
“I am not scared of the Enforcement Directorate,” he said. “If they think that by arresting me they can finish the National Conference… the National Conference is a movement. It is not run by some Farooq Abdullah’s favour.”
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