NC-CONG TALKS HIT DEADLOCK

IMPASSE Omar wants to field NC candidates on all 3 seats in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: The talks between National Conference (NC) and Congress for an alliance in Jammu and Kashmir hit a deadlock on Sunday with the former demanding to contest from all three seats in the Valley.

J&K has six Lok Sabha seats— three in the Valley, two in the Jammu division and one in the Ladakh division.

From past some time, talks were on between the two parties over a possible alliance. On Sunday, NC vice-president Omar Abdullah told reporters in South Kashmir on the sidelines of a function that his party wants to contest from all three seats of Kashmir. “We had received a proposal from Congress for an alliance in J&K for Lok Sabha polls. But we have told them that only National Conference candidates will contest from the three seats in the Kashmir. We could take the talks further only if this condition suits them.” Sources said the Congress leadership had asked NC to leave Anantnag Lok Sabha seat for them as they felt the party had better prospects of winning from the seat. The Congress wants to field its state president Ghulam Ahmad Mir from the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. Mir, who is a former minister, has a good following in south Kashmir. Sources said the Congress is ready to leave a seat either in Jammu or Ladakh for the National Conference.

In 2014, the Congress and NC had contested the Lok Sabha polls jointly as both the parties were running a coalition government in the state. The NC candidates had contested from Baramulla, Srinagar and Anantnag seats while Congress candidates contested from Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh seats. Both NC and Congress drew blank as the three Valley seats were bagged by the PDP and two Jammu seats and a Ladakh seat was won by the BJP. National Conference has not officially announced names of its candidates though the party has already given a green signal to the names of Mohammad Akbar Lone from Baramulla and party president Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar seat. Abdullah won from Srinagar in 2017 in a byelection. The seat got vacated after Tariq Karra resigned from PDP and joined Congress. Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir recently told Hindustan Times that talks were on but not on the old terms. “This time, there will be new arrangement,” he had said.