Former Chief Minister and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah Sunday accused Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad of fielding a candidate from the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency at the behest of the BJP to divide the secular votes in the Chenab Valley region.
Joining the joint campaign in support of the Congress party candidate Choudhary Lal Singh in the Ramban district, Omar, accompanied by JKPCC Chief Vikar Rasool Wani addressed a series of meetings during the roadshow.
Targeting the ‘unholy alliance between the DPAP and BJP Omar said, “BJP MP represented the seat for 10 years but today they need someone for help… Why did the DPAP field a candidate only from Udhampur? Why not from Jammu where they could have fielded a Hindu candidate to cut BJP’s votes?
Omar said they have not fielded him ( GM Saroori) to win the seat as otherwise, Azad himself would have contested from there”.
Regretting Azad’s decision to play into the hands of the BJP” Omar once again reminded him that his father, Farooq Abdullah, was very close to the DPAP chairman.
It was the National Conference that facilitated the entry of Azad, a former Congress veteran, into the Rajya Sabha twice, Abdullah said.
“He (Azad) was among the tallest leaders and we thought that he might be the country’s president or vice president in case Congress comes to power,” Abdullah said.
Abdullah said the Congress gave Azad everything and he used to be a leader of national stature. But he ruined his political career and reduced himself to a leader of a parliamentary constituency, he said.
“The duration for which he was a member of the Congress Working Committee is more than my age. When he left the Congress, he announced the formation of a national party but how many candidates he fielded in the Lok Sabha elections? When his party announced his candidature from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, he said on record that he was not consulted,” the 54-year-old Abdullah said.
The reality is when the NC fielded its candidate, Mian Altaf, from the seat, Azad’s legs began shaking and he got the signal from the BJP to pull back, Abdullah claimed.
The NC vice president said the PDAP candidate in Udhampur will only “weaken the voice” of the people.
“Remember to vote for the hand symbol (of Congress) as voting for other symbols will go to Lotus (BJP) which destroyed Jammu and Kashmir by dividing it into two Union Territories, taking away our identity, honor and constitutional rights,” he said, criticizing the administration for not announcing a holiday on Eid-ul-Fitr and shifting an Imam of Hazratbal shrine who had converted a man to Islam during Ramzan.
The Congress party candidate Lal Singh is pitted against Union minister and BJP candidate Jitendra Singh in the Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituency, which goes to polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 19. DPAP’s G M Saroori is among 10 others in the fray.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Vikar Rasool Wani accompanied Abdullah during the roadshow in the Khari area of Banihal.In his speeches, Vikar Rasool said DPAP is not organising election rallies in Kathua, and Udhampur but only in Khari, Sangaldhan, Doda, Bhallesa, and Bhaderwah to divide the secular vote. He warned the electorate to stay alert and defeat these forces who have a vested interest.
