PAGD still in existence, says NC leader Omar Abdullah

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference vice-president, Omar Abdullah, on Saturday said that the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) was still in existence although its members were working on their own levels.

“They (PAGD members) recently held a meeting to discuss further strategies. It is not that PAGD has to hold meetings every day. The existence of PAGD would be visible only by the results and not by holding meetings,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a party convention.

Recently Omar had said that had People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron and former chief minister, late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed not entered into an alliance with the BJP after the 2014 Assembly elections, the erstwhile state’s special status under Article 370 could have been saved.

Also Read | National Conference wants statehood, special provisions for J&K restored

And just days later NC’s Women’s wing president, Shameema Firdous made a scathing attack on the PDP accusing its president and former CM, Mehbooba Mufti of destroying J&K.

The NC and the PDP are the two main constituents of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) which was floated by the Kashmir-based mainstream political parties in October last year on the slogan of restoring the special status of the erstwhile state.

Ever since its inception, the inherent contradictions within the constituents of the alliance have come to fore several times. Just two weeks after the alliance came into existence, the NC and the PDP fielded proxy candidates against each other on several seats during first-ever district development council (DDC) polls held last December.

And after the results, both the parties have been taking divergent stands on important political issues confronting J&K.

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