Congress refused to contest Nagrota by-poll: CM Omar

Srinagar, Oct 20: The upcoming Rajya Sabha elections have exposed widening cracks between the National Conference (NC) and the Congress, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday revealing that the Congress party has “refused” to contest the Nagrota by-polls, despite the NC offering it the seat as part of coalition understanding.

Speaking to reporters in Budgam after accompanying Aga Syed Mehmood, the NC candidate for the Budgam Assembly bypoll, CM Omar said, “We had offered Congress this seat, despite the fact that in 2014 we had won it. They refused to contest the seat. We have now fielded Shameema Begum, whose candidature has been approved by NC President Farooq (Abdullah) Sahab after consultations with senior leaders.”

The CM’s statement marks a fresh strain in NC-Congress relations, which had already been under pressure following the two parties’ disagreement over the distribution of Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir.

NC had offered the Congress the fourth Rajya Sabha seat, which was considered “arithmetically difficult to win” given the current strength of the two parties in the Assembly.

However, Congress leaders reportedly declined the offer, demanding a “safer seat” instead.

The NC and Congress had fought the 2024 Assembly elections in a pre-poll alliance, NC secured a commanding majority and return to power after a decade.

However, the Congress chose not to join the government after the elections, insisting that it would only do so once statehood was restored to Jammu and Kashmir.