The Sajad Lone led People’s Conference on Tuesday walked out of the sevenparty alliance fighting for the restoration of Article 370, dealing the first major blow to the efforts of proIndia groups to present a united front for the shared goal of getting back Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

The alliance has been simmering with discontent since it contested last month’s maiden District Development Council elections, whereparties are believed to have fielded proxy candidates against the official candidates. The alliance won the highest 110 out of 280 seats and it could have fared better but for the proxies.

Lone on Tuesday shot off a letter to Farooq Abdullah, who heads the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, alleging “breach of trust” between the alliance partners in the elections.

He, however, swore to continue fighting for the restoration of Article 370.

“It is difficult for us to stay on and pretend as if nothing has happened. There has been a breach of trust between partners which we believe is beyond remedy,” Lone, who was also the spokesperson of the alliance, said.

“The majoritarian view in our party is that we should pull out of the alliance in an amicable manner rather than waiting for things to get messier.

“And I am confirming that we will no longer be a part of the PAGD alliance.”

Lone’s People’s Conference was the third biggest group in the alliance after the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party. The coalition is now left with six members, including the CPM.

Lone, formerly a separatist who became the main reason for the split of the Hurriyat Conference in mid2000s into moderate and hardline factions, said they were divorcing from the alliance and not its objectives.

“We will continue to adhere to the objectives that we set out when this alliance was made. And the PAGD leadership should be assured that we will extend support on all issues which fall within the ambit of stated objectives,” Lone said.

“We have issued clear instructions to all party leaders not to issue any statements against the PAGD alliance or its leaders.”

During the 2002 Assembly elections, Lone was accused by Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani of fielding proxy candidates in some constituencies, a charge he then denied. A few years later, Lone formally joined electoral politics and emerged as a key ally of the BJP after the 2014 elections. He was accommodated in the cabinet at the BJP’s bidding but they fell apart in 2019 after he fiercely criticised the Centre’s plan to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Lone and some other colleagues were jailed for months, along with thousands others, for opposing the abrogation of Article 370. He appeared a changed man after he was released and played a key role in forging a formal alliance to fight for its restoration.

When the alliance surprisingly chose to contest the DDC elections, many people in the Valley had voiced concern that they were falling in Delhi’s trap.

Though their demand for restoration of Article 370 is close to the heart of many people, the elections saw a modest turnout of 33 per cent in the Valley, a reflection of how many people were unwilling to trust them and accused them of strengthening the roots of India in J&K in the past.

Lone’s decision to part ways is likely to raise more apprehensions about these parties and it could lead to more disunity in the camp.

A leader of the alliance admitted Lone’s decision was a setback but hoped the rest of the parties will work for strengthening the grouping.

The letter to Farooq said the decision to walk out was taken during an intraparty meeting in Srinagar where the “predominant feeling” was that the sentiment of the alliance at the top “was not emulated on the ground”.

“It was felt that the results of a sincere alliance should have meant that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’,” Lone said. “Instead the whole was not greater than the sum of parts, sadly not even equal to the sum of parts, but much lesser and equal to just one part of the many parts.”

Lone said at the majority of places, the party fielding the candidate on behalf of the alliance was left “to fend for itself”. He said other parties were “silent bystanders” or “worse, compounded the problem by fielding proxy candidates”.

Trouble has been brewing in the alliance after two PC leaders Imran Ansari and Abdul Gani Vakil publicly questioned the alliance leadership over the question of “proxy” candidates in the DDC polls and also after some National Conference and CPM leaders chose to meet the lieutenantgovernor.

“This alliance needed sacrifice. Every party had to sacrifice on the ground in terms of giving space to fellow allies. No party is willing to cede space, no party is willing to sacrifice,” Lone wrote.

“We fought against each other in Kashmir province not against the perpetrators of 5 August (2019, the day when Article 370 was scrapped). And those who perpetrated 5 August and their minions are now vocally gleeful.”