NC quitting I.N.D.I.A.? Omar says no, Farooq Abdullah hints at rejoining NDA

Omar dismisses reports of his party switching sides and becoming part of BJP-led NDA.

Srinagar: In a damage-control exercise, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Thursday said his party will continue to remain a member of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

The statement came hours after his father and party president Farooq Abdullah announced his party would contest upcoming Lok Sabha polls on its own, while hinting that he may re-join the BJP-led NDA in the future.

“We were a part of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance and we still are. Things have been taken out of context,” Omar said and added that what party president Farooq Abdullah talked about was a reflection of what the cadre of the party felt.

“(Party) cadre never wants to contest elections in alliance. What Farooq Abdullah said is the reflection of the party cadre. They remind us that when an election is contested in alliance, the party has to suffer,” he told reporters with Farooq Abdullah by his side.

The former CM said that the NC is clear about the fact that it would rather fight elections on all seats, “but sometimes for a bigger objective, small sacrifices have to be made".

“If our aim is to stop the BJP in Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh, we are ready to sacrifice. We will complete our dialogue with the Congress. The main idea of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is to defeat the BJP. There is no point in sailing in two boats," he told reporters while dismissing the reports of his party switching sides and becoming part of the BJP-led NDA.

Earlier, senior Abdullah told reporters that the seat-sharing talks with the I.N.D.I.A. constituents had failed. “As far as seat-sharing is concerned, I want to make it clear that the National Conference will contest elections on its own strength. There are no two opinions about it," he had said.

The NC president also didn’t rule out the possibility of returning to the BJP-led NDA fold which his son later dismissed.

The announcement incidentally came a day after octogenarian Abdullah, a former chief minister of J&K, was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged cricket scam. Last month Abdullah had voiced concerns regarding the absence of consensus regarding seat-sharing arrangements within the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.