Won’t bow before anyone except Allah, says Farooq Abdullah after victory in DDC polls

‘Forging alliance with rivals was tough decision’

After leading People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) to victory in DDC elections, regional National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah Wednesday said that forging an alliance was a tough decision "but was taken for larger interests of people of Jammu and Kashmir".

“It was a difficult to forge alliance with the parties that were the rivals of the NC. But a decision was taken in the large interests of people of J&K,” he said while addressing party workers at the NC headquarters, here.

Read | Results of 276 DDC seats declared; PAGD gets 110, BJP 74

The PAGD is an alliance of arch rivals and regional heavyweights – NC and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) - besides five other parties. It was formed on October 15 to work towards restoring the special status of J&K which was revoked last August. The PAGD bagged 110 seats in the DDC polls and emerged victorious in 13 out of 20 districts in J&K.

Boasting that he was the son of ‘Sher-e-Kashmir’ (Lion of Kashmir, as his father late Sheikh Abdullah is being called) and will not bow before anyone except Allah, octogenarian Abdullah said, “In 1996, they (New Delhi) used to stay that NC had died down in Kashmir and didn’t exist anymore. (Then Prime Minister) Narasimha Rao used to say that NC doesn’t exist in Kashmir anymore.”

“But when realised, they (Delhi leaders) came to meet me in London and begged to save them. Let me tell them, NC was there, is there and it will remain there,” Abdullah, who is incumbent Member Parliament (MP) from Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, asserted.

In an indirect reference to the BJP, he said, “They want me to bow before them but I won’t.”

“There are weaknesses in the party (NC) that needs to be plugged, the sooner the better,” added Abdullah, who is also a former chief minister.