All is not well with INDIA alliance, says Omar Abdullah amid Congress-SP tussle

Srinagar, Oct 30 (PTI) Amid a tussle between the Congress and Samajwadi Party over seat sharing for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Monday said the situation within the opposition INDIA alliance was not good.

“All is not well with INDIA alliance. Some internal squabbles, which should not have been there, can be seen, especially in the four five states where elections are being held. We have seen how the Samajwadi Party and Congress are fighting each other. Both are saying that they will contest all the seats in UP. This is not good for INDIA alliance. Maybe after these state elections, we will meet again and will try to work together,” Abdullah told reporters in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

Asked about People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) constituents hitting out at each other, Abdullah said he has not uttered a word against anyone.

“I have not said anything. I have not targeted any of my friends, despite the fact that for the past several months we have been targeted. But this is also right that for the first time I have not tried to stop my colleague,” he said.

In an apparent reference to PDP leaders’ criticising the National Conference at a party event last week, Abdullah said there was plenty his party can talk about if it were about raking up the past.

“We have plenty to talk about. They have been raking up issues for the past 30 years...we do not have to go that far, we just have to go back three or four years,” he added.

Asked about BJP's claims that the situation in Kashmir was normal, the former chief minister asked why elections were not being held in Jammu and Kashmir if the situation is normal.

“If the situation is normal, why are elections not held? What is the excuse? Only yesterday, a police officer was shot at in broad day light in Srinagar. Now, we heard that something has happened in Pulwama.

“In Rajouri, an area which we had cleared of militancy, every week or 10 days an incident or encounter takes place there. If this is normal situation, then be it,” he said.

When asked about J-K elections, Abdullah said people are eagerly waiting for assembly elections.

“But there is no indication of these elections being held any time soon. Parliamentary elections are a compulsion for them but whether they will hold these or not, perhaps only two persons in the country know this and they have not spoken to me about it,” he added.