The INDIA grouping appeared on the brink in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday with Omar Abdullah refusing to give any seat to rival turned ally People’s Democratic Party, and Mehbooba Mufti accusing the National Conference of hurting the alliance more than the BJP had.

Tensions had been brewing for months between the NC and the PDP, long-time foes that are now spearheading the fight for the restoration of Article 370 under the banner of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD). On Friday, the dam broke.

Omar, former chief minister and NC vice-president, said the PDP, which came third in the 2019 polls (from Anantnag, behind the NC and the Congress) had no right to claim the seat.

The PDP wants to contest from Anantnag while leaving Srinagar and Baramulla to
the NC, which won all these three seats in the last Lok Sabha polls.

“Had I known before joining the INDIA alliance that we would have to weaken the party for the sake of some other member of the INDIA alliance, then perhaps I would never have joined the alliance,” Omar told reporters in Srinagar.

“Our only aim in joining the INDIA alliance was that our fight is with the BJP and the NDA, and if that is the case, then there is no basis for this internal tension or discussion.”

He added: “The PDP was number three in the last Parliament elections in south Kashmir’s Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. How is it justified that the number one or number two party will leave their claim and give it to number three?”

Omar said his party was willing to give the Anantnag seat to the Congress provided it fielded Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from there, but would not give it to the PDP.

Mehbooba, who addressed a news conference soon after, said the INDIA and PAGD alliances were the last hope for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and that the NC decision was a big blow to their unity.

“Unfortunately, what the BJP could not do has been done by our own members of the PAGD. But you know I am a fighter,” she said.

“We wanted reconciliation and not to fight each other because our opponent (the BJP) is extremely powerful, dangerous. It has turned the entire Jammu and Kashmir into a prison. But they (NC) have changed the goalposts and pitted us against each other.”

Mehbooba said she was disappointed that Farooq Abdullah (NC president) had taken such a decision without consulting the PAGD.

“If he (Farooq) had spoken to us and said their workers don’t agree and want (the NC) to contest all three seats, perhaps we would have agreed for the sake of unity, we would have made the sacrifice,” she said.