Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 14: Lashing out at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Peoples Conference president and MLA Handwara Sajad Lone today accused the National Conference (NC) of denying a Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress on the “directions” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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Addressing a press conference here, Lone also announced that his party would abstain from voting in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
“I would rather die than vote for the National Conference. Stop dictating to us who we should vote for and who we should not. You cannot label us. You are not Yuvraj,” Lone said, directly addressing the Chief Minister.
Challenging the NC’s credibility, Lone said the party needed to prove to the people of J&K that it did not deny a Rajya Sabha seat to Congress on BJP’s instructions.
“Today you are in the dock. Prove to the people of J&K that you are not sitting in the BJP’s lap,” he said.
Rejecting suggestions that abstention meant tacit support for the BJP, Lone said sarcastically, “I won’t be surprised if you accuse Congress of having a pact with BJP.”
He also tore into Abdullah’s administrative record, alleging “incompetence” and “subservience” to New Delhi.
“Everyone knows he cannot run an administration, yet he excels at pretending otherwise. He labels others as BJP supporters while he himself sits in their lap,” Lone said.
Listing reasons why the NC had “forfeited” public trust, Lone asked, “Do you expect our vote because you gifted crores worth of shawls to BJP leaders? Because you are nonstop partying with them in Delhi? Or because you were the first to give them a fair-election certificate?”
“Or should we support you because you were caught red-handed strolling hand in hand with the author of the draconian Waqf Bill, Kiren Rijiju, in Tulip Garden?” he further asked.
Highlighting what he termed the human cost of NC’s politics, Lone narrated how a worker’s mother suffering from cancer was transferred 100 km away because his family voted for the Peoples Conference.
He accused the NC of acting as the BJP’s proxy in J&K, “taking orders from them while denying others their due share.”
“…And still, you accuse others of being aligned with the BJP. You have sacrificed everyone for them and won through lies and deceit,” Lone said.
Contrasting the NC with Congress, he said the latter had consistently stood against the BJP and remained the only national party capable of restoring J&K’s Statehood.
“Yet you humiliate them. I have personally assured support to many Congress leaders. But as for the NC, we will never vote for you,” he asserted.
Lone also attacked the NC Government’s “legacy,” recalling Abdullah’s past role as a minister in the former BJP-led Government at the Centre.
“You travelled the world justifying killings in Kashmir as a BJP Minister. The people voted for a leader, but they got an errand boy for the BJP. You have brought disrepute to the institution of the Chief Minister. It will take a decade to restore its dignity,” he said.
Reiterating his party’s stance, Lone noted: “We will abstain. But we will never vote for the NC or the BJP. They are indistinguishable.”
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