Farooq attends INDIA bloc meet in Delhi, Mehbooba skips it over ‘personal’ reasons

Srinagar, June 1

National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Saturday joined the meeting of the INDIA bloc in New Delhi, while the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti skipped the meeting for “personal” reasons.

Top leaders of the Opposition grouping met in the national capital in the afternoon to assess their performance in the Lok Sabha elections and chalk out their strategy ahead of the results.

Both the National Conference (NC) and the PDP were invited to the INDIA bloc meeting. NC president Farooq Abdullah was seen entering the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Although Mufti skipped the coalition’s meeting, the invitation to Mehbooba Mufti indicates that she continues to be a part of the INDIA bloc.

‘Broken trust’

I announced that Farooq Abdullah would decide the seat-sharing arrangement. I trusted the NC patriarch and was sure that he would decide the forthcoming strategy on merit. Instead Omar Abdullah called the media, claiming that the PDP existed nowhere on the ground and had vanished from the political landscape. —Mehbooba Mufti, PDP President

The party spokesman Rohit Bhan said the party chief had prior personal engagements and thus could not visit Delhi. While quoting the PDP president, Bhan said, “As a party, we are with the idea that INDIA bloc brings to the table, irrespective of the seat-sharing arrangement.”

It is pertinent to mention here that the PDP was keen to see Mehbooba Mufti as an INDIA alliance candidate from the South Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency. However, the National Conference refused to provide any seat to the PDP from the Valley, forcing the latter to contest for all three seats of Kashmir.

Throughout her campaign, the PDP president, who contested from South Kashmir against NC leader Mian Altaf, stated that during the alliance’s meeting in Mumbai, she announced that Farooq Abdullah would decide the seat-sharing arrangement. But he chose to ignore the PDP, she alleged.

Mehbooba said, “I trusted the NC patriarch Farooq Abdullah. I was sure that he would decide the forthcoming strategy on merit.” m

“Instead Omar Abdullah called the media, claiming that the PDP existed nowhere on the ground and had vanished from the political landscape,” she lamented.