BJP picks a woman to take on CM Omar

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has signed on a woman to take on chief minister Omar Abdullah in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election as the party looks to expand its support from the lowlands of Hindu-dominated Jammu to the Muslim-majority Valley.

Darkhshan Andrabi, a relatively unknown politician, is the second woman to stand against the National Conference (NC) leader after the Congress announced Kashmiri Pandit leader Khem Lata Wakhloo as its candidate for Srinagar’s Sonawar seat.

Andrabi, who recently joined the BJP after merging her Social Democratic Party with the saffron party, is banking on Modi magic to help the BJP win 44 seats in the 87-member assembly.

The politician with a doctorate in Urdu is using PM Narendra Modi’s development plank to woo voters in Kashmir where anger is still running high after the worst flooding in about a century.

“Two months on, people are still awaiting help. I am promising nothing more than that. They also know that a strong leader like Modi can only help them in their miseries,” she told HT.

The NC which always emerged as the majority party since 1996, faces a groundswell of antiincumbency against the Omar Abdullah-led government and outrage after the devastating floods in the state.

BJP has chosen another woman as its candidate from Amira Kadal to take on sitting MLA Nasir Aslam Wani.

Hina Bhat, a 35-year-old dental surgeon, is one of the most vocal BJP candidates who made headlines when she allegedly said she would pick up a gun if Article 370 was abrogated.