Srinagar, Oct 22: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) President Tariq Hameed Karra on Wednesday said that the decision to vote or abstain in the Rajya Sabha elections for Jammu and Kashmir scheduled for October 24 had been left to the Congress high command and would be taken by Thursday.
Addressing media persons after a meeting of the Congress leaders at JKPCC office in Srinagar, Karra said that the sentiments of the Congress legislators had been conveyed to the Congress high command.
The JKPCC made the statement after the Congress legislators skipped the Legislature Party meeting called by National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah.
“The NC President had called all the legislators for a meeting today. However, we documented the point of view of our MLAs and put it in front of the party high command. It was decided that in view of the sensitivity of the matter, the deliberations started today were called off till tomorrow,” Karra said.
The two parties developed a strain after the NC announced the nomination of its three candidates, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Sajad Kitchloo, and Shammi Oberoi for the three of the four Rajya Sabha seats from J&K and left the fourth “unsafe seat” for Congress.
However, Congress expressed reluctance to contest the fourth “unsafe seat”. Finding no takers from the Congress, NC doubled down and nominated its own candidate, Imran Nabi Dar, for this seat too. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah defended the move of leaving the fourth “unsafe” seat for Congress , saying, “We believed the Congress had a better chance on the fourth seat. They thought otherwise. So be it.”
A senior JKPCC leader said that everyone from New Delhi to Srinagar was unhappy with the way the NC ignored Congress in the Rajya Sabha seat sharing.
He said that the JKPCC had sent a letter about this development to the Congress high command in New Delhi.
The senior Congress leader said there was resentment among the Congress high command against the NC’s decision of “safe seat snub” on the Rajya Sabha seat.
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