PDP’s performance doesn’t justify Lok Sabha seat allocation: Omar Abdullah

Srinagar, Mar 8: National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah Friday said that it would not agree to a seat-sharing deal with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

This decision comes as a setback for the opposition INDIA bloc.

Abdullah’s comments are a clear indication of the rift between the two regional parties, both of which have declared their intention to contest the polls independently.

He defended the NC’s decision not to leave any seats for the PDP in Kashmir.

Abdullah said that the PDP’s performance in the last elections did not justify a claim to those seats.

He also criticised the PDP for attacking the NC on various occasions, questioning their commitment to the coalition.

“The party that is No 3 has no right to ask for a seat. If I had been told, before joining INDIA, we would have to weaken ourselves for another member, I would never have joined,” Abdullah said.

This was after PDP President Mehbooba Mufti said that her party too was planning to fight this election on its own.

She said that the PDP would decide candidates for J&K’s five seats and the one in Ladakh.

Abdullah expressed willingness to keep doors open for an alliance with the Congress for the assembly polls in J&K, depending on the PDP’s approach in the parliamentary polls.

He said that the NC had discussed seat sharing with the Congress, with the national party contesting from two seats in the Jammu region.

Talks for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls have reportedly stalled over the PDP’s demand for the Anantnag seat, which is currently held by the NC but was won by Mehbooba Mufti in 2004 and 2014.

It was also won by ex-chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in 1998 when he was with the Congress.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP and Abdullah’s NC split the six seats, with the former winning Ladakh, Udhampur, and Jammu, and the latter claiming Baramulla, Srinagar and Anantnag.

The PDP contested all six but failed to win any, and went home with an overall vote share of less than 4 percent.

The NC secured a vote share of just under 8 percent.

The Congress, which also failed to win any seats, picked up around 28 percent of the votes.

Abdullah criticised personal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating they backfire for the opposition.

Responding to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s comment on Modi's lack of family, Abdullah said that such attacks do not benefit the opposition and could even harm their cause.

Abdullah, a member of the opposition’s INDIA bloc, stressed the importance of addressing voter concerns like employment generation, agricultural distress, and rural economy, rather than focusing on personal attacks.

He cited the example of the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ slogan from the last election, which he believes did not resonate with the voters.

Abdullah expressed regret about joining the INDIA bloc suggesting that if he had known earlier that it would require weakening his party for the sake of the alliance he might not have joined.