SRINAGAR: Peoples Conference Chairman and MLA Handwara, Sajad Gani Lone, on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the National Conference (NC), accusing it of “gifting seven MLAs” to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the recent Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Lone alleged that NC’s handling of reservations and internal politics has “killed merit” and “betrayed the people of Kashmir.”
“This government is out to kill merit. Open merit has been buried. We are going to start a ground-level registration drive against this policy,” Lone said, announcing a “full-fledged campaign” against what he termed an “unjust reservation system.” He warned that his party would “take to the streets” and even resort to hunger strikes if necessary.
Accusing the NC of “hand in glove” dealings with the BJP, Lone said, “All the cross-voting was done by the National Conference. They gifted seven votes directly to the BJP. It was a fixed match. This is the same party that accuses others of being with the BJP, but today they are sitting in its lap.”
He alleged that the Congress was deliberately denied a winnable Rajya Sabha seat. “They offered Congress a losing seat, number four. Omar Abdullah himself asked, ‘Why don’t they contest for number four?’ It was designed that way,” he claimed, adding that the NC’s alliance decisions exposed its “submissive politics before Delhi.”
Lone further accused past NC Rajya Sabha members of “failing to bring anything substantial from Delhi” and described the party’s decades-old approach as “begging for power while pretending resistance.”
Referring to the abrogation of Article 370, he alleged that “midnight meetings” between NC and central leaders before August 5, 2019, reflected “betrayal after betrayal.”
“The BJP ensures the victory of its own candidates through these same people,” Lone said. “They abuse BJP during elections to fool voters, but work together behind the scenes.”
Expressing satisfaction over abstaining from the Rajya Sabha vote, Lone remarked, “I thank Almighty Allah that I stayed away from this corrupt process. Otherwise, fingers would have been pointed at me.”
