Omar Abdullah reveals strategic concessions in Congress-NC alliance
- In Reports
- 08:55 PM, Sep 06, 2024
- Myind Staff
In a recent statement, former Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah revealed that several concessions were made to form an alliance with the Congress party for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. Abdullah acknowledged that his party had to “surrender” certain seats as part of the strategic partnership.
In an interview with ANI, Omar Abdullah emphasised that seat adjustments are a necessary component of any seat-sharing agreement. He underscored that securing the alliance was “too important to let five or six seats jeopardise the whole thing.”
Abdullah also noted that prior to forming the alliance with Congress, the National Conference had intended to contest all seats independently. Additionally, he criticised the BJP for fostering a narrative that portrayed Article 370 as something “that Kashmiris loved and residents of the Jammu region hated.”
“All alliances are a compromise. We had prepared candidates for all seats. I’m not sure whether Congress had done the same, but I’m assuming they would have done. We have obviously surrendered seats that we had people ready for, that we believed we were in a good position to at least put up a really good fight. But yes, in any seat-sharing, you have to surrender seats and we did,” Omar Abdullah said.
“Having an alliance was too important to let five or six seats jeopardise the whole thing. We could have ended up with a Madhya Pradesh-type situation where the Congress just went completely alone because they couldn’t agree on six or seven seats to the Samajwadi party,” he added.
Abdullah further highlighted the need for stronger domicile laws in Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that the current regulations are weaker than those in Himachal Pradesh and are among the weakest in the country.
“It’s a genuine fear because lands are being given away. Government lands are being given away to people who are not from here. Let me be clear, I have no problem with people coming here, but we are saying we should have first right over our own land, over our own water, over our own rivers. What is wrong with that? If you give the first right to people in other states, why not here?” he added.
When questioned about the potential chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in the event of a Congress-NC alliance victory, Abdullah declined to provide an answer.
Image source: Hindustan Times
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