SRINAGAR: The National Conference-Congress alliance in Jammu and Kashmir is strained as Congress is upset over NC’s offer of an 'unsafe' Rajya Sabha seat from J&K UT to it.
Congress is also mulling going solo in the upcoming bypolls to two J&K Assembly constituencies if the ruling party refuses to concede at least one of the two seats to it. The by polls for two J&K Assembly seats --- Budgam (in Kashmir) and Nagrota (in Jammu) would be held on November 11.
The by-elections were necessitated after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the Budgam seat and retained the Ganderbal seat, while Nagrota seat fell vacant after the death of sitting BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana.
A senior Congress leader said there has been a setback to the NC-Congress alliance after the denial of a safe seat to Congress among the four vacant RS seats in J&K and with the offering of an unsafe seat to Congress (seat No 4). He said the party is hurt by the NC's decision and feels let down.
J&K Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra accused NC of disregarding alliance principles and betraying its commitment to a Rajya Sabha seat.
Presently, Congress has six MLAs in the J&K Assembly, and the strength of the house is 88, with two seats lying vacant. A senior J&K Congress leader said that after this setback to the alliance, it is the responsibility of the ruling NC to mend ties and allot one of the two bypoll seats to Congress.
"We are more interested in contesting from Nagrota seat in Jammu, where we have got good influence and support base. During talks with NC on seat sharing, we will demand the Nagrota seat. We are hopeful that following the coalition dharma NC will leave Nagrota seat for us to prevent division of anti-BJP votes,” he said.
In 2024 Assembly polls, BJP’s Devender Rana had won Nagrota seat by securing 48,113 votes while NC’s Joginder Singh was runner up with 17,641 votes, and Balbir Singh of Congress got 5,979 votes.
The Congress leader, however, said if NC does not leave any of the two bypoll seats to the party, then “we would go solo and contest from both the seats”.
“The party is keeping its central leadership updated about the political development in J&K after NC’s refusal to leave a safe seat for the party,” he said.
“We will inform party leadership of our wish to contest both the seats to keep our vote bank and support base intact. As an alliance partner, we have been sacrificing, but not anymore”.
“We have to consolidate our support base and cannot leave it at the mercy of our alliance partner. Even if we get 10 to 20% votes, it will be enough to rejuvenate our votebank,” he said.
J&K Congress spokesperson Ravindra Sharma in a post on X said, “Coalition dharma means mutual respect, trust, consultations and more of Coalition interests than party interests. Rise or sink together, but more on ideological foundations”.
Sources said there is growing disillusionment in Congress and the party is feeling let down “due to one-sided decisions taken by NC, from denying cabinet berths to refusing of safe RS seat to the party”.
“We sacrificed a lot during the seat-sharing agreement with NC for the Assembly polls last year. We gave our winning seats to NC and agreed on a friendly contest for such seats. Now, the major opinion in the party is that it should contest from both the bypoll seats if denied any seat by the NC,” they said.
