Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Wednesday that his father and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah called the Opposition People’s Democratic Party’s chief Mehbooba Mufti and asked for her support in the Rajya Sabha elections that will be held on October 24.
Speaking after the NC held its Legislative Party meeting ahead of the J&K Assembly session that begins Thursday, Omar said he is hopeful that his party’s candidates will secure wins in all four vacant Rajya Sabha seats from J&K.
On Mufti’s response to the NC president, Omar said, “She has assured that she will take the right decision after speaking to her party colleagues.”
NC’s Legislative Party meeting on Wednesday was joined by allied Independent MLAs and the CPI(M)’s M Y Tarigami. However, the Congress — also an ally in the ruling coalition — held its own Legislative Party meeting earlier in the day.
Dooru MLA and former J&K Congress chief G A Mir said that at the meeting, the party discussed its strategy for the Rajya Sabha polls. The Congress is not contesting any of the four seats after talks with the NC regarding seat distribution were unsuccessful.
Mir said the initial discussion between both parties was to share the first two “safe seats” between them. However, “eventually it came down to the fourth seat for the Congress, and we decided to opt out of it. If they (the NC) can manage three, they can manage the fourth,” he said.
The nine-day Autumn Session of the Assembly, which begins in Srinagar on Thursday, is expected to see some commotion over the issue of reservation, with the Opposition having demanded that a Cabinet report on it be made public.
Story continues below this ad
The J&K government had said earlier that the report on rationalisation of reservation was finalised and that the Cabinet would send a memo to the Lieutenant Governor.
Issues such as restoration of statehood and the PDP’s Bill on land rights are also expected to come up during the session.
It will begin with obituary references on Thursday, and on Friday, the House will vote to elect the four Rajya Sabha members. These seats have remained vacant since 2021 in the absence of an elected government in the Union Territory.
With Omar Abdullah saying the Rajya Sabha election would show “who is with the BJP”, Opposition member Sajad Lone has announced his decision to abstain from voting.
