The Congress on Monday endorsed ally National Conference’s exclusive right to contest all three Valley seats, elbowing out their INDIA partner People’s Democratic Party and virtually sounding the death knell for the Kashmir alliance fighting for the restoration of Article 370.

The Congress and the NC said in Delhi they would contest three each of the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. This leaves none for the PDP.

The NC will contest the three Valley seats of Anantnag-Rajouri, Srinagar and Baramulla, while the Congress will contest Jammu and Udhampur (both in Jammu) and Ladakh.

Ironically, just hours before the announcement, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti was tearing into the BJP, accusing it of trying to keep her out of Parliament. By afternoon, she could well have made the same charge against the Congress.

“I want to formally announce that the National Conference and Congress will jointly contest the elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh with three candidates for each of the two parties,” NC leader Omar Abdullah told a joint news conference with the Congress in Delhi.

Salman Khurshid, member of the Congress seat-sharing committee, told the news conference that the PDP was still a part of the INDIA bloc. But, he added, seat adjustments were just “one part of alliance” and that the “overall alliance” was a different matter.

“Since Jammu and Kashmir is small in area, there is not much scope for seat adjustment despite our best efforts,” the Congress veteran said.

PDP leaders went into a shell after the joint NC-Congress announcement. More worrying for the PDP is the possibility that it might also be pushed out of any electoral alliance for the Assembly polls, to be held by September 30 under Supreme Court orders.

Monday’s development means the Congress has bowed before pressure from the NC, which had refused to share any seats with rival turned ally PDP. This threatens to reduce the multi-party Gupkar Alliance, campaigning for the restoration of Article 370, to a mere formality that only a miracle can now save.

The PDP had on Sunday announced candidates, including Mehbooba herself, for all three Valley seats. Mehbooba formally launched her election campaign on Monday after visiting the grave of her father and party founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in Bijbehara, Anantnag.

“They (the Centre) think that if this (Mehbooba’s) voice reaches Parliament, perhaps there will be difficulties for them there. And thatthe real situation of Jammu and Kashmir, including Ladakh, will be reflected,” she told reporters.

“That is why they try, as much as possible, to keep Mehbooba Mufti out of Parliament.”

She was speaking before the NC-Congress announcement although she would have anticipated it.

Mehbooba, fielded from the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, is pitted against the NC’s Mian Altaf and former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. The BJP is yet to announce its candidate.

Pir Panchal, which includes the Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu, has been clubbed with Anantnag under a controversial 2022 delimitation exercise.

Gujjars and Paharis, communities that the BJP has been courting for years, make up around 50 per cent of the new constituency’s electorate.

Anantnag-Rajouri votes on May 7.