Srinagar, Apr 3: PDP President Mehbooba Mufti Wednesday said that her party will contest all the three parliamentary seats in Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference here, she alleged that the National Conference (NC) shut the doors for fighting the polls together and forced her party to take the decision. “Dr Farooq Abdullah sahib being a highly respected and senior political leader, we had reposed faith in him. We were hoping that being the head of the mainstream political camp he would guide us to resolve the seat-sharing issue. We were expecting him to rise above the party interests in the best interests of people,” Mehbooba said.
She stated that even if NC had to contest all three seats,” Dr Farooq Sahib or Omar Sahab should have given me a phone call or called for a meeting to tell me about their decision. But they did not do so and announced in the media about their decision.”
“If they had taken us in confidence, I would have sacrificed all the three seats. We and the people are facing a tough situation and for parliamentary seats, we should not have been at loggerheads. But they did not do that and announced their own decision,” Mehbooba said.
She alleged that NC Vice President Omar Abdullah with his statements hurt the sentiments of PDP workers.” My workers are my real asset. BJP snatched my senior leaders. Omar Sahib discredited PDP saying it does not stand anywhere and does not exist. He could not have said that. PDP had 28 MLAs and has ousted NC from power twice in the past. This has hurt our party workers,” she said.
PDP President said that After Omar Abdullah’s press conference, the worried party workers started calling her. “They were asking me what our party was going to do now. I wanted to clear the confusion by announcing that we will contest the three seats,” she said.
Mehbooba stated that now that NC has taken its decision, PDP too will go to the people. “We may be weak as per NC leaders, let us see what is the verdict of people and we will go by that,” she said.
The PDP President stated that her party will announce the candidates in the coming days.