Abdullahs wanted to have a tie up with BJP in 2014 : Rana

Srinagar, Feb 16: Senior BJP leader Devender Singh Rana today said National Conference (NC) attempted to form a government with the BJP in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir after the 2014 assembly polls . He said, however, the NC’s offer was rejected by the BJP.

Rana, who was a senior leader in NC and political advisor to Omar Abdullah prior to his joining to BJP, was talking to India Today. He made the disclosure a day after NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah during an interview with same TV news channel had said that his party will contest from all the five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir on its own and will also go into assembly polls same way. Dr Abdullah had even hinted at forming an alliance with the NDA like past saying “ political parties always keep all their options open and that nothing can be said about the future.”

Asked about Dr Farooq Abdullah’s statement Rana said, “I am not surprised with what Farooq Sahab said. National Conference has been always keen to have a tie up with the BJP.”

Rana stated that not only in 2014, even after the death of the then chief minister and PDP leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed when there was gap in the fresh government formation the party wanted to form government with the BJP. “But again its attempts failed,”he said. “ That time also BJP rejected NC’s offer. Let me tell you with confidence that before and after the abrogation of Article 370, the NC leadership wanted to have some kind of tie up with the BJP and had tried to reach out to it. But such efforts of NC were rejected by the BJP again, “he said.

The senior BJP leader stated that Omar Abdullah had himself led the talks of NC with the BJP’s top leadership in 2014.