National Conference, Congress ink J&K-Ladakh pact

New Delhi: Congress and National Conference on Monday formally announced their alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in J&K and Ladakh, as per which NC will contest the three Kashmir Valley seats and Congress will contest the two Jammu seats as well the lone Ladakh seat.

The INDIA bloc partners made the announcement within two days of NC and its local rival PDP, also an INDIA bloc member, deciding to contest against each other in the three Valley seats. The deal was announced in Delhi after NC leader Omar Abdullah met Congress alliance committee members Mukul Wasnik and Salman Khurshid. While Congress had already declared its two candidates for Jammu seats, NC last week announced Mian Altaf from Anantnag-Rajouri (PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti's electoral turf) and plans to soon name its candidates from Srinagar and Baramulla.

Abdullah said, "We are happy to state that National Conference and Congress will each contest three Lok Sabha seats in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Chaudhary Lal Singh (Congress) to contest from Udhampur, Raman Bhalla (Congress) to contest from Jammu and Mian Altaf Sahib (National Conference) to contest from Anantnag-Rajouri. The candidates for the remaining seats will be announced soon. We will work together to ensure the victory of all six candidates."


Asked about PDP not figuring in the alliance, Abdullah said, "In a region where we have maximum six seats, of which three of them are already held by National Conference, the space for give and take was very limited."

Khurshid said, "The developments in J&K have special significance. This is not merely an alliance between seats, but an alliance of ideological thinking, so that the whole nation gets the right message about everyone coming together and co-existing."