Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): While the People's Conference (PC) has set the stage for upcoming Lok Sabha elections by announcing party president Sajad Lone as its candidate for Baramulla seat of Jammu and Kashmir, PC's main rival National Conference (NC) is meanwhile facing a 'problem of plenty'.
The north Kashmir parliament seat has 18 assembly segments - six in Kupwara, seven in Baramulla, three in Bandipora and two seats of Budgam and Beerwah which were added to the seat in 2022's controversial delimitation. The constituency has been traditionally won by NC and Congress since 1984 parliamentary elections.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, NC candidate Akbar Lone won the seat while defeating PC's Raja Ajaz Ali by a huge margin of over 30,000 votes. Interestingly, the NC has decided not to field Lone in the 2024 Lok Sabha election owing to his "health issues". NC's vice president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah revealed this decision to reporters in Kupwara in October, last year.
"It is not possible that he would contest the election due to his ailing health. We will field a new candidate from Baramulla-Kupwara Lok Sabha seat," Omar had said.
Meanwhile, several NC leaders believe that Choudhary Ramzan, Mir Saifullah, Qaiser Jamsheed Lone, Nasir Sogami, Nazir Gurezi, Javaid Dar, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi are in the race for Baramulla seat as all these leaders are very senior and have won assembly elections for the party in the past. Additionally, Choudhary, Saifullah, Sogami, Gurezi, Dar and Ruhullah have all been ministers.
ETV Bharat contacted these leaders to know whether they are ready to contest the Lok Sabha elections if they get a mandate. None of them seemed non-committal in contesting elections but said that the "final call" about the candidate will be taken by the parliamentary board and Abdullahs. NC sources said that the parliamentary board will meet in the coming week and announce the candidates.
The INDIA opposition bloc commitment also factors in as NC is part of the alliance and is holding talks with Congress on seat sharing. But Omar has made it clear that the three seats-Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar- won by NC in 2019 polls, should be given to NC. Congress leadership has agreed to concede Srinagar and Baramulla to NC and contest Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh seats. However, the Anantnag seat, that now includes Rajouri and Poonch districts after delimitation, has become a bone of contention between NC, Congress and PDP.
A senior NC leader said that the party leadership will take suggestions from the cadre about the candidates. "Irrespective of whether the candidate is ready or not to contest, the final call will be taken by the party president which the candidate has to oblige," the senior NC leader, while requesting anonymity, told ETV Bharat. He said that in 2019 elections, Akbar Lone was not interested in contesting but he had to oblige the party leadership.
Sources, however, said that some leaders in the party want Omar Abdullah to contest from the seat. "Who knows Omar Sahib may contest himself and emerge as a dark horse," another senior NC leader said. Interestingly, the junior Abdullah has been MLA from Budgam's Beerwah till the assembly was dissolved in 2018. And now the segment comes within the Baramulla-Kupwara seat.
The NC leader said that the main contest will be with Sajad Lone in Kupwara district, for which the party should field a "suitable" candidate to give a tough fight to the PC Chief. "It could be either Choudhary Ramzan, Qaisar Jamsheed Lone or Mir Saifullah," he said.
