The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
As BJP says will back ‘patriotic’ parties in Valley, Lone and Bukhari inch closer
Lone seeks Apni Party’s support in Baramulla; rivals accuse both parties of ‘links’ with Centre, BJP
FOUR DAYS after Union Home Minister Amit Shah appealed to Kashmiris to vote for any party except the Congress, NC and PDP, the BJP has defended its decision not to field any candidate in the Valley for the Lok Sabha elections, saying that it is supporting “patriotic’’ parties there.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, BJP’S J&K unit president Ravinder Raina said party leaders would soon meet BJP chief J P Nadda and other Central leaders to discuss the strategy for Kashmir. After this, names of the candidates the BJP will support will be announced, with an appeal to party workers to support them, Raina said.
Coincidentally in Srinagar, People’s Conference president Sajad Lone Saturday made an appeal to J&K Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari seeking his support for the Baramulla seat from where he is contesting, and offering backing in return for any constituency from where the Apni Party contests.
Speculation has been rife aboutapossiblealliancebetween the two parties at least for the
Baramulla seat in North Kashmir. The Apni Party is seen in Valley as propped up by the Centre, while thepeople'sconferenceisaccused by its rivals of being “a BJP proxy”.
While Lone is contesting from Baramaulla, the Apni Party has not announced any candidate for the seat.
In 2019 LS polls, the BJP had fielded candidates from all three Kashmir Lok Sabha seats– Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla,pollingonly4,631,10,225and 7,894 votes, respectively.
Raina said BJP leaders in Kashmir wanted the party to contest the three seats again “on our own strength’’, but that “sometimes, setting aside personal interests, different decisions are taken to achieve a big goal’’.
Without naming any party, he added: “We are supporting those parties there which are patriotic and working for the betterment of the people of Kashmir, strengthening peace and brotherhood and are eager to serve the society.”
The Congress, NC and PDP, Raina said, were “enemies of the people of Kashmir... indulging in the politics of hatred”, and wanted to push J&K back to the days of violence.
In his appeal to the Apni Party's Bukhari, Lone said that since 1975, 10 MPS had represented Baramulla in Parliament, nine of them from the NC. “One of the main reasons that the NC has been able to retain this seat is vote fragmentation. Their vote share has gone from about 65% to 29%, but they still win,” Lone said.
“I have had some talks and I am appealing to Altaf Bukhari to stopdivisionofvotesinbaramulla. Wewillalsosupportthemunconditionally in other constituencies, particularly in Srinagar... We feel that we can challenge the NC together,” he said.
Baramulla votes on May 20. Lone is facing NC vice-president Omar Abdullah and the PDP'S Mohammadfayazmirintheseat. Thefirsttoannouncehiscandidature from any of three Kashmir seats,lonehasbeencampaigning in Baramulla for over a month.
Since Omar declared his candidature from the seat, a war of wordshasbeengoingonbetween the two leaders. While the People’sconferencehasraisedthe “rigging” of the 1987 Assembly polls in Kashmir, allegedly by the NC and Congress, the NC has raised Lone’s “links” with the BJP.
Lone, who was an ally of the BJP from 2015 to 2018 as a part of the PDP-BJP government in J&K, countered this Saturday by pointing out that the NC and PDP too have had ties with the saffron party. “Omar Abdullah was part of NDA government as a foreign minister (Minister of State, External Affairs) and the PDP was apartnerintheiralliancegovernment (in the state),” he said.
Pointing out that the NC got 29% of the votes in Kashmir in 2019, Lone said it meant 71% had voted against the party. “Are you saying they are all stooges of the BJP?... Is the BJP so strong in Kashmir that 71% of the people are aligned to the BJP?”
Two days ago, Democratic Progressive Azad Party leader and former J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad surprisingly dropped out of the Anantnag-rajouri seat, after announcing his candidature from there. Post-delimitation, this constituency has a large population of Gujjars and Bakerwals, and is seen as the best bet for the BJP to get its candidate through in Kashmir.
While INDIA bloc parties had hoped to contest Lok Sabha elections together in J&K, they were unable to reach an agreement in Kashmir.
The NC went ahead and declared candidates for all the three Valley seats, leaving two in Jammu for the Congress. PDP is contesting the Kashmir constituencies.