Once bitten twice shy.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, who had no wish to contest the Assembly elections, filed his second nomination paper from the Budgam constituency on Thursday, a day after entering the fray from Ganderbal.
After the abrogation of Article 370 provisions in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, Omar had taken a stand that he would not contest Assembly elections until statehood was restored. But a humiliating defeat in Baramulla, under which the Budgam Assembly segment falls, at the hands of jailed politician Engineer Rashid prompted him to go back on his word.
Omar was confident of winning but Rashid, detained under terror-funding charges and lodged in Tihar jail, announced his candidature at the last minute. A massive sympathy vote helped Rashid sail through. It is believed that the Centre allowed him to jump on the Lok Sabha poll bandwagon to ensure Omar’s defeat.
The National Conference vice-president announced his decision to contest from Ganderbal last week and sounded confident of winning it but on Wednesday he appeared to betray nervousness as he appealed to voters in Ganderbal with folded hands, taking off his skullcap and pleading with people to “protect his honour”.
The former CM said his topi (cap) and dastaar (headgear) were in the hands of people. The two are symbols of honour in Kashmir and are removed only in desperate times, leading to allegations that Omar was begging for votes.
An NC leader, however, denied allegations of Omar appearing shaky.
“Omar sahab has no contest in Ganderbal. It will be a one-sided affair. As far as Budgam is concerned, there are internal reasons which forced him to contest,” he said.
Budgam falls under the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat represented by the NC's Aga Ruhullah Mehdi. Sources said Mehdi did not want to "create a local rival” and was hence in favour of Omar contesting from Budgam.
Omar on Thursday said Mehdi had through Agha Mehmood, an NC leader who was set to contest from Budgam, requested him to contest from the seat instead, suggesting it was a unanimous decision of the two leaders.
“After Baramulla (defeat), we wanted to say that we are not fighting from a position of weakness but from a position of strength. My contest for two seats is not a sign of weakness but of the strength of the National Conference. If there was any danger, my friends would not have asked me to contest from here,” he told reporters.
Omar said that Mehdi had taken up the responsibility of the campaign in Budgam.
“We are fighting in alliance with the Congress in 90 seats. Our purpose is to stop the BJP, the forces who want to subjugate Jammu and Kashmir, weaken it and victimise the youth. For that, one seat won’t do anything, we have to win 60 to 70 seats to take power,” Omar said.
On Congress district president Saahil Farooq’s decision to fight against him, Omar played it down saying there have been desertions contrary to his expectations. The Congress has said it will take action against Farooq, who is now contesting as an Independent.
