I will never vote for NC, says Sajad Lone as PC to abstain from Rajya Sabha polls
Srinagar, Oct 14: People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Tuesday announced that his party will abstain from voting in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, calling it a “principled stand” and accusing the National Conference of acting on the directions of the BJP.
Speaking at a press conference in Srinagar, Lone said, “We had decided that if a secular, non-NC candidate was fielded, we would support them. But the arrogance shown by the National Conference leaves us with no option. We will abstain.”
He criticised Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had suggested that those abstaining from voting were effectively proving their allegiance to the BJP.
Lone said, “Yesterday, I saw a clip of our CM. In the context of the Rajya Sabha, he said that whoever does not vote for him or abstains is the biggest proof that he is a BJP. Now, maybe Congress is also abstaining. Now it seems that they will also become the BJP.”
Lone recalled the 2024 elections, accusing the NC of misleading voters. “We have been hanged for this BJP charge in 2024. Omar Abdullah was successful in lying to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and we lost the election. Our bankable candidates, who we thought would win, lost. Now we cannot be hanged for being BJP allies again. How many times will we be hanged for the same charge?”
He said Omar Abdullah was attempting to project himself as anti-BJP while acting otherwise.
Accusing the NC of denying a Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress on the BJP’s behalf, Lone said, “Now you give proof to the people of Jammu and Kashmir that you did not give a seat to the Congress on behalf of the BJP. I am accusing you today that you did not give a seat to the Congress on behalf of the BJP. You went to Delhi… in 2019, you went to Delhi at night, and Article 370 was abrogated in the morning. The day before yesterday, you were in Delhi on the pretext of the marathon. At that time, I told my colleagues that NC would not give this seat to Congress.”
“I may have many disagreements with Congress. But the reality is that, as far as being anti-BJP is concerned, this is one party that can never sit with the BJP. In 2015, I was in the government with the BJP and the PDP. We have all sat with them. Omar Abdullah was the foreign minister in the NDA cabinet. But there is one Congress that has never sat with them. And today, he did not give a seat to that Congress.”
He added, “Whenever the issue of statehood arises, two parties are very important: Congress and the BJP. BJP is not giving us back statehood. The second party that can give you statehood is Congress. And this is the behaviour of our National Conference with that Congress.”
He challenged Omar Abdullah directly: “Today, you have to stand in the queue. You tell me, what could be better news for the BJP than this? That you did not give a seat to Congress. You put your hand on your heart and say, Would the president of BJP, would the team of BJP be happy with this or not? You tell yourself.”
On his party’s future stance, Lone said, “I will die, but I can never vote for the National Conference. Neither politically nor otherwise. How can I face that worker whose mother has cancer? The LG did not punish him for five years for being a PC member, but your (Omar's )government has sent him 100 kilometres away?”
He also slammed Omar Abdullah for administrative failures and alleged collusion with the BJP leadership. “You sit on BJP’s lap and then blame us. You blame the whole world. I don’t understand this. I can’t believe it.”
