Sajad Lone eyes ‘dear friend’ Altaf Bukhari’s support in Baramulla
Sajad Lone also offers his party’s support to Altaf Bukhari in Srinagar in efforts to put up united front against National Conference
Looking to put up a stiff challenge to the National Conference (NC) in North Kashmir, People’s Conference chairperson Sajad Lone on Saturday sought Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari’s support in the Baramulla parliamentary constituency.
Lone also offered his party’s support to Bukhari in Srinagar, irrespective of the decision the latter takes. Attempts to contact Bukhari did not yield any result.
Addressing a press conference, Lone said of the 10 Lok Sabha MPs from north Kashmir since 1975, nine had been from the National Conference.
“One of the main reasons for NC’s win was the fragmentation of vote. Their vote share has come down from a high of 65% to 29%, but they still win. In the last election, for every one vote polled for them, 2.5 votes were against them,” Lone, who has been an ex-MLA and former minister from north Kashmir’s Handwara constituency, said.
Dubbing Bukhari a “dear friend”, Lone said he would appeal to him to not allow for the division of votes.
Notably, NC has fielded its party vice-president and former chief minister (CM) Omar Abdullah from Baramulla. The party had grabbed the seat in 2019, with NC candidate Akbar Lone winning with a margin of more than 30,000 votes over Peoples Conference’s Raja Ajaz. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had won the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Omar will take on Lone, while Bukhari’s Apni Party is yet to announce a candidate for the seat. Peoples Democratic Party has also jumped into the fray with former Rajya Sabha member Mir Fayaz.
Lone and Omar, who are strong contenders for the seat, have traded barbs of late.
Speaking of wanting to support Bukhari’s Apni Party in Srinagar, Lone said, “We think they can give the challenge. We intend to support them irrespective of the decision they take on the north Kashmir seat.”
Apni Party, comprising several former ministers and legislators from the PDP, was formed in March 2020 soon after revocation of Article 370 in August 2019. All top leaders from the party had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, making the party to be one of the first from the region to reach out to the Centre post the move.
Sajad Lone, a former separatist from north Kashmir, switched sides in 2009 and joined pro-India politics by fighting parliamentary elections, a first for separatists since militancy erupted in the valley in 1989. Since then, his party, PC, has slowly found a footing in north Kashmir.
