NC-Congress alliance talks hit deadlock over Kashmir seats

The seat-sharing talks between former chief minister Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) and Congress in Jammu and Kashmir have been deadlocked, according to people aware of the developments.

The NC wants to contest all three seats in the Valley as a prerequisite for an alliance in the state that has six Lok Sabha seats, they added. The Congress wants Anantnag seat in the Valley. “We had received a proposal from the Congress for an alliance in Jammu and Kashmir for the Lok Sabha polls. But we have told them clearly that only National Conference candidates will contest three seats in the Kashmir,” NC vice president Omar Abdullah told reporters on Sunday.

Omar said if the formula suits the Congress, only then they could talk about the other three seats in Jammu and Ladakh.

The Congress has asked the NC to leave Anantnag as the party leadership feels Ghulam Ahmad Mir has a better chance of winning. It is ready to leave a seat either in Jammu or Ladakh for the NC in return, the people aware of the developments said.

Mir, the state Congress chief, told Hindustan Times that talks were on but not on the old terms. “This time, there will be a new arrangement of seat sharing,” he said.

The Congress and NC contested the last national polls in 2014 together but managed to win no seats. The NC contested the Valley’s Baramulla, Srinagar, and Anantnag seats. The Congress fielded its candidates from Jammu, Udhampur, and Ladakh.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party won three seats each.

The NC is likely to field Mohammad Akbar Lone from Baramulla and Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar. Abdullah won the Srinagar seat in 2017 after PDP’s Tariq Karra resigned from Lok Sabha and joined Congress.

First Published: Mar 17, 2019 23:18 IST