Srinagar: Days after finalising seat-sharing agreement in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is hopeful of reaching an agreement with I.N.D.I.A. bloc partners -- National Conference (NC) and People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir -- for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Congress party’s J&K unit president, Vikar Rasool Wani, said the picture will be clear in a week's time as the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is about to reach a seat sharing agreement with the NC and PDP.
He said, however, no final decision has been taken in this regard yet while the "internal" discussion is going on.
PDP General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Hanjura said that they were expecting to come up with a decision on seat-sharing by next week.
According to sources, NC will get North Kashmir’s Baramulla and Central Kashmir’s Srinagar Lok Sabha seats while the PDP has been offered South Kashmir’s Anantnag seat. The Congress will contest on two seats of Jammu region.
In the seat allocation discussions, it has been tentatively agreed that PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti will contest from Anantnag while NC vice-president Omar Abdullah will be alliance candidate from Srinagar. However, formal announcements regarding these arrangements are pending.
All the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir are currently held by the NC while the two seats in Jammu are with the BJP.
While this time the I.N.D.I.A. bloc candidates are favorites to win three Valley seats, it will be difficult for the alliance to dislodge the BJP from its stronghold Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha constituencies.
The alliance had hit a roadblock when on February 15 after NC president and MP Farooq Abdullah said his party would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election alone on all seats while hinting that he may rejoin the BJP-led NDA in the future.
However, in recent days Abdullah said that there was a need to make the I.N.D.I.A. bloc strong so that the country is “saved from the disaster BJP has done in the last ten years.”
Published 01 March 2024, 07:30 IST