Sajad Lone’s party pulls out of Gupkar alliance
People’s Conference leader upset over fielding of proxy candidates by constituent parties in DDC polls
SRINAGAR/JAMMU: Less than three-month-old People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of Jammu and Kashmir’s mainstream parties demanding restoration of Article 370 which had fought recently held district development council (DDC) polls together, received a jolt on Tuesday when one of six parties decided to quit it.
People’s Conference led by Sajad Lone wrote a letter to PAGD chairperson and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah saying that they have decided to part ways with the alliance over the issue of fielding of proxy candidates by constituent parties against the officially mandated candidates of the alliance during DDC elections.
“No party is willing to cede space; no party is willing to sacrifice. We fought against each other in Kashmir province not against the perpetrators of August 5 (2019). And those who perpetrated August 5 and their minions are now vocally gleeful. It is difficult for us to stay on and pretend as if nothing has happened,” Lone wrote. “Trust between allying partners who have been rivals all along can be very elusive and extremely fragile. Proxies have made it perpetually elusive. This alliance needed sacrifice,” he said.the PAGD was formed on October 20, 2020, after six political parties from J&K — National Conference, People’s Democratic Party, CPI(M), Awami National Conference, People’s Conference and People’s Movement — came together to fight for the restoration of special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The alliance also fought the DDC polls jointly on individual party symbols in November and December, and managed to win an impressive 110 seats of the total 280.
Lone alleged that in majority of the places, the party fielding the candidate on behalf of PAGD was either left to fend for itself or other parties even compounded the problem by fielding proxy candidates.“ddc elections per se may not matter institutionally. But… it was less of an election, more of an opportunity to send a strong unanimous political message,” he said. Lone said apart from the number of seats that PAGD won, other important statistical variable in the context of August 5 was the number of votes polled against the PAGD.
“We believe that the votes polled against the PAGD are majorly the votes cast by proxies of PAGD constituent parties against official PAGD candidates. The final outcome of selective voting for and against PAGD is a very poor vote share. This is certainly not the vote share that people of J&K deserved post-august 5,” he said. Lone, however, said they would continue to support the alliance on the objective it was formed. Sources said Lone was under pressure from two senior leaders of People’s Conference, vice-president Abdul Gani Vakil and party general secretary Imran Reza Ansari, to quit the alliance as this was “suicidal’ for the party, especially in the areas of north Kashmir where party had strong hold.
Lone was the spokesman of the alliance and had played pivotal role in drafting letters. Spokesman Adnan Ashraf said the party had quit the alliance for its survival.
BJP’S J&K spokesman Altaf Thakur said it was an alliance of “self-interested politicians”. PDP spokesman declined to comment on Lone’s letter.
NC spokesman Imran Nabi Dar termed it unfortunate.