Reveal Names of Your MLAs Who Voted for BJP, Lone Tells Omar Abdullah

SRINAGAR: Peoples Conference Chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Monday accused the ruling National Conference (NC) of entering into a “secret deal” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the fourth Rajya Sabha seat and challenged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to publicly name the MLAs who allegedly voted for the BJP.

Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Lone referred to NC president Farooq Abdullah’s recent comments as evidence of ongoing negotiations between the two parties. “If there wasn’t a deal, then why did Farooq Sahib himself admit that there were parleys between his party and BJP regarding the Rajya Sabha seats?” he asked.

Lone questioned the pattern of voting, noting that 31 votes were cast for candidate number three. “It was done deliberately to make it easier for BJP to win and enable horse-trading,” he said. “If NC was confident of winning all four seats, why didn’t they offer any to Congress? Was there a ‘give two, take two or four’ deal?”

He said Farooq Abdullah’s own remark that BJP had offered NC “ek seat do, teen lo” (give one seat, take three) indicated that dialogue was indeed taking place. “If he knows who the four people are, as he claims, he should name them—even if they belong to his own party,” Lone demanded.

Responding to accusations that his party’s abstention from voting benefited the NC, Lone said, “If we had voted, they would still have accused us. For us, there is no difference between National Conference and BJP. What one does, the other follows.”

On the issue of invalid votes, Lone questioned the process, hinting at manipulation. “How does a vote get rejected? When there is match-fixing, what can you say?” he remarked, quoting an Urdu verse: ‘Idhar udhar ki baat na kar, yeh bata qafila kyun loota; mujhe rahznon se gila nahi, teri rahbari ka sawaal hai’ (Don’t talk about trivial matters, tell me why the caravan was looted; I don’t blame the robbers, I question your leadership).

Lone further said the Peoples Conference had secured nearly two lakh votes in the last assembly elections, positioning itself as the principal opponent of the NC. “Why would people vote for those who brought the BSF, who killed thousands, who jailed so many? If NC looks into its conscience, it will see stains of Kashmiri blood,” he said.

Commenting on the plight of daily wagers, Lone said successive governments had deceived them. “Even when I was in government, committees were formed but no real action taken. The problem lies with the state government’s financial incapacity. All these promises carry financial implications,” he said.