National Conference faces internal strife in Jammu and Kashmir, MLAs swore to cleanse the party

The ruling National Conference is facing a challenging internal strife as around 20 MLAs of the party have prepared a memorandum seeking changes within the party structure as well as removal of some of the office-bearers.

Senior NC MLA Abdul Majid Larmi said the party is in dire need of “a cleansing process” to get it back on its track and free it from the “corrupt hands”. This “attack is not a rebellion”, Larmi said, adding the changes will bring NC “together and make it stronger”.

The crisis came to the fore after CM Omar Abdullah reshuffled and expanded his council of ministers, disappointing leaders like Mubarak Gul, Larmi and Nazir Gurezi. The crisis exacerbated when Farooq Abdullah appointed Gul as party general secretary to calm his tempers but removed him within two days following the meeting of the disgruntled NC MLAs in Srinagar.


“We need to get rid of some people who have hijacked the party. People like Nasir Sogami, Surinder Choudhary and Showkat Mir have ruined NC,” said Larmi, adding, "we are against the system how party is run."

Senior MLAs Larmi, Hasnain Masoodi, Farooq Shah and Aijaz Jan will present the memorandum to party president Farooq Abdullah, who is in Delhi for Omar Abdullah’s one of the wedding functions.

The chief minister has been buffeted by the criticism and squeezed both from his close aides within the party as well as the angry legislators who have siezed this chance to air wider complaints about the functioning of National Conference.

“Our party has lost track because of some selfish, corrupt people. We are hopeful that our concerns will be addressed or else would be forced to think of the next step,” another senior NC leader told ET. A senior NC leader said that by “merely adjusting a few people in some roles won’t solve problems."

“Our party leadership is continuously reaching out and promising advisory roles and speakership to several MLAs but that won’t solve the issue. How many advisors and speakers can they appoint,” he said. As of now a large chunk of NC MLAs don’t seem convinced with any of the efforts of party leadership.

The NC's Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, Aga Ruhullah who is majorly angry over party's position or lack of it on Article 370, 35 (A) and reservation is set to resign on November 3 both from the party and Lok Sabha in a public rally.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in J&K assembly and senior BJP leader, Sunil Sharma, termed this as "begining of the end" of NC. He said that many MLA were just waiting for this council of ministers expansion to take some serious decisions. "There is also opposition within the party to the family rule and dynastic politics currently in place... I had said that as soon as the Cabinet expansion took place, the National Conference would collapse like a house of cards... The government will fall, and the party will split. I believe some activities in that direction may have already begun," Sharma told reporters.

Aam Admi Party legislator Mehraj Malik while reffering to NC MLA's dissatisfaction wrote on social media, "Operation lotus underway in J&K. Gurezi sb (Nazir Gurezi) could be the next CM."

The NC had won 42 seats in the assembly elections in October 2024 and emerged as the single largest party thus forming the government with the outside support of its alliance partner Congress that won six seats. Five independent candidates and one MLA each from CPI (M) and AAP had extended support to the NC.