PDP ties support to NC in Rajya Sabha polls with passage of two key bills

Srinagar: The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday said its support to the ruling National Conference (NC) in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections will hinge on the ruling party’s backing for two crucial legislative proposals — the Land Rights & Regularisation Bill, 2025 and the Regularisation of Daily Wagers Bill — moved by the PDP in the Assembly.

The Land Rights & Regularisation Bill, described by PDP leaders as an “anti-bulldozer law,” seeks to protect long-time occupants of state and grazing lands (gasscharayi) from eviction and grant them ownership rights. The Regularisation of Daily Wagers Bill aims to provide job security and benefits to thousands of contractual and daily wage employees working across government departments — an unresolved issue for years in Jammu and Kashmir.

PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti revealed that NC president Farooq Abdullah had personally reached out to her seeking PDP’s support for the party’s Rajya Sabha candidates.

“Farooq Sahib called me and said they are in need of support. I told him that our leadership will discuss it,” Mehbooba said. “However, I also reminded him that our bills concerning poor people living on gasscharayi land and the daily wagers should at least be passed this time.”

Linking her party’s stance in the upper house elections to what she described as “pro-people legislative priorities,” the PDP president also used the occasion to launch a sharp attack on Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, accusing him of continuing the “abnormal governance practices” that began under Governor’s rule.

“During the Governor’s rule, employees were dismissed arbitrarily and no one could speak. When Omar Sahib became Chief Minister, he normalised that abnormality,” she said. “He neither raised his voice nor resisted such actions.”

The PDP chief also accused Omar of reneging on promises made to the people, including his earlier pledge to provide legal aid to hundreds of jailed youth. “He once talked about Article 370 but today he doesn’t even take its name. Institutions are being targeted — Falah-e-Aam Trust schools have been taken over with the signature of Omar Sahib’s own minister, and even the open merit system is being rationalised,” she alleged.

Political observers say the PDP’s conditional offer of support could complicate the electoral calculus for the NC, which has been reaching out to smaller parties to secure its numbers for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat in J&K.