SRINAGAR: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah Saturday expressed hope the INDIA bloc would win all six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh as he claimed the BJP was afraid of the opposition alliance and have resorted to spreading falsehood. Asked about the party fielding its vice president Omar Abdullah from north Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency and influential Shia leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi from Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah said some things are kept secret. “If the general of an army says from where his force will attack, then how will they win? Some things are kept a secret. If they come to the fore before the appropriate time, then it does not look good,” he told reporters. When asked about his expectations from the Parliamentary elections, the National Conference president said, “God willing, the INDIA bloc will win all six seats.” The Congress and the National Conference (NC) have announced that they will fight the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, in alliance, with both parties contesting three seats each. Congress is contesting Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh seats while the NC will fight in Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla. Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party president has named candidates for three seats in the Kashmir Valley. In response to a question over Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacking his party, the PDP and the Congress over dynastic politics, Farooq Abdullah said the leaders of these parties contest elections and it is the people who decide their fate. “What is dynastic politics? We come through elections and not dynasties. Has he (Modi) forgotten that there are dynasts in his party?… Is it that only the NC and the Congress have dynasts in their parties? It is up to the people to reject them,” he said. The former Union minister said politicians have to go to the people and seek votes and if they do not work for the people, they are rejected. On the BJP’s jibe that Congress will become extinct like the dinosaurs, Farooq Abdullah said the BJP only propagates falsehood. “They are afraid of the (INDIA) alliance candidates. They do not know what to do… Why cannot the prime minister grant statehood (to Jammu and Kashmir) now? What is he waiting for? He comes to Udhampur and promises statehood, but when? This is the question we have for him. Why cannot he do it?” he said. The National Conference president said, “A new prime minister will come and god willing everything that has happened, will be reversed.” To a question about PDP blaming him for the split in the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), he sarcastically said, “Thank God, Farooq Abdullah is blamed by everybody.” Earlier, Farooq Abdullah and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah welcomed former MLA from Surankote, Choudhary Muhammad Akram, into the party fold.
