SRINAGAR: The National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, both part of the INDIA bloc, are set for a friendly contest in three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir Valley, even as their leaders Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti shared the stage during the Opposition rally held in Delhi on Sunday in protest against CM and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest.
Of the five LS seats in Jammu & Kashmir, the Congress will contest Udhampur and Jammu, and both NC and PDP will support the grand old party. In the Valley’s three seats — Anantnag-Rajouri, Srinagar (central Kashmir) and Baramulla (North Kashmir) — the NC has decided to contest all of them, declining seat sharing with its INDIA and Gupkar Alliance ally PDP.
The NC, which won all the three Valley seats in 2019 polls, says there is no logic in leaving any seat for PDP. Mehbooba’s party has been insisting that NC leave it one of the seats, preferably Anantnag-Rajouri. The Congress tried in vain to persuade NC to leave the Anantnag seat for PDP.
The Congress then urged PDP leadership not to field candidates for the Valley seats to prevent division of votes. PDP turned down the Congress plea. “The PDP will be contesting all three LS seats from Kashmir,” PDP’s general secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone told this newspaper.
Asked whether PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti would contest the LS polls, he said, “Yes, she will definitely contest the polls”. He, however, said it was yet to be decided from which seat she will contest.
However, party insiders said Mehbooba may either contest from Anantnag or Srinagar. In the 2019 LS polls, Mehbooba unsuccessfully contested from Anantnag seat and secured third position. NC’s Hasnain Masoodi won the seat. “We are on a strong position and have got public support in both the seats,” a PDP leader said.
If Mehbooba contests from Srinagar, it may pit her in a direct fight with former CM Omar Abdullah, who is set to contest from there. The entry of PDP in the poll battle in Valley will make the election for three seats in Kashmir more interesting and surprising.