Omar pushed Congress out of RS polls at BJP’s behest: Sajad Lone

SRINAGAR: Peoples Conference (PC) chairman Sajad Gani Lone Tuesday said he would abstain from voting in next week’s Rajya Sabha elections in J&K, accusing CM Omar Abdullah of pushing Congress out of the contest at the behest of BJP.Alleging that Omar denied a safe ticket to Congress “to build goodwill within BJP”, Lone challenged him to prove this was not the case. Congress on Monday withdrew from the elections, accusing ally National Conference (NC) of denying it a ‘safe seat’.Lone said he would have supported a secular candidate, but Omar “is on a trip to please BJP”, while he had forced Congress to withdraw from the contest.He accused Omar of labelling others as pro-BJP while himself “sitting in BJP’s lap”.

“Yesterday (Monday), the CM said anyone abstaining from the Rajya Sabha vote will be seen as siding with BJP. In the last assembly polls, similar labels cost many of our candidates their seats. You can’t hang us on the same charge again,” Lone told reporters at a press conference.He said Omar, instead, must prove he was not aligned with BJP. “I have a hundred differences with Congress. But, when it comes to being anti-BJP, only Congress has shown consistency,” he said.

The PC chief said many leaders, including himself and Omar, had at some point allied with the saffron party, but Congress never had.He argued that only the two national parties — Congress and BJP — would be in a position to restore J&K’s statehood. “BJP will not restore it, Congress will,” Lone said, adding that Omar’s treatment of its alliance partner was “unjustified”.Lone said Omar had done “great injustice” by denying Congress a ticket. “As a national party, a Congress MP would have had more time to speak in Parliament. What will your people do there?” he said.