Omar Abdullah mocks Mehbooba Mufti's ‘offer’ for J&K polls: ‘Do not field candidates’
Omar Abdullah's remarks came a day after Mehbooba Mufti said the PDP would leave all seats for Congress-NC coalition if it accepts her party's agenda.
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah taunted Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti for allegedly copying his party's manifesto and asked the PDP not to field candidates against the Congress-NC nominees as their agenda is the same.
“They (PDP) said if the NC-Congress alliance accepts their agenda, they will not put up candidates. You have put all our agenda in your manifesto,” Abdullah said while addressing party workers in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
“You have already accepted our agenda and now there is not much of a difference between your agenda and our agenda. Then do not field candidates and come, we will build a better tomorrow for Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
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Abdullah asserted that the PDP has essentially replicated the NC’s manifesto, including promises to provide 200 free units of electricity and create one lakh government jobs within the first year—commitments that both parties have now included in their respective manifestos.
"We said we will provide one lakh government jobs in the first year, they also put that in their manifesto. We talked about reopening (cross-LoC) routes, it is in their manifesto as well. We talked about keeping the doors of dialogue open and they also said so. Almost everything that my colleagues put in our manifesto, they also put it," he said.
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What Mehbooba Mufti said
Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said her party was willing to offer full support to the Congress-NC alliance and concede all assembly seats to them, provided the coalition adopts the PDP's agenda.
"Forget about alliance and seat-sharing, if the Congress and the National Conference (NC) are ready to accept our agenda -- that resolution of the Kashmir issue is necessary and on opening of routes -- we will tell them to contest on all the seats and we will follow you," Mufti said.
"Because, for me, the resolution of the Kashmir problem is much more important than anything else," she added when asked if the Congress had approached the PDP for an alliance.
She was talking to reporters following the release of the PDP's manifesto for the assembly elections.
