JAMMU: The ground situation in the Chenab Valley does not corroborate the BJP’s development narrative, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah claimed on Tuesday, the penultimate day for campaigning for the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir. The NC leader, who is on a four-day tour of the Chenab Valley, held road shows in Padar, Nagseni and Gulabgarh seeking support for Congress candidate Choudhary Lal Singh who has been pitted against BJP candidate Union Minister Jitendra Singh who is vying for a hat-trick of victory in the constituency. The Congress and the NC are fighting the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, in alliance, with both parties contesting three seats each. “Rumblings at the grassroots across Udhampur do not corroborate the development narrative that the BJP is peddling,” Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said. He claimed that public sentiment is against the BJP and it is resonating across the constituency. “Notwithstanding the BJP’s claims of development in the region for the past 10 years, the area’s unemployed youth are not convinced by the feel-good narrative. The dominant view is that non-locals are pocketing government jobs and business contracts,” the NC leader said. He alleged that the youths are suffering due to unemployment, loss of contracts to non-locals and widespread unaccountability. Polling in Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency will be held in the first of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on April 19.
