National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah today claimed the BJP had approached his party with an offer to give it three Rajya Sabha seats in exchange for leaving one uncontested, but they rejected the proposal and chose to fight the election.
The veteran politician Abdullah’s claim came a day after BJP surprised the ruling NC by winning one of the four Rajya Sabha seats by clinching 32 votes, four more than its strength of 28 in the assembly. The ruling NC won three seats.
Speaking to reporters in Srinagar, Abdullah said all NC MLAs remained united despite speculation in the media about internal divisions.
“All the MLAs of our party were united. They could not break even one. Newspapers used to write that there is no unity, but you have seen — we stood together,” he said.
Abdullah expressed gratitude to Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party, Congress and Independent candidates including MLA Langate and Shopian for supporting the NC candidates.
The NC chief said three of the party’s candidates won the Rajya Sabha elections, but the fourth couldn’t win.
“It is sad that the fourth one could not win. He got 21 votes as many who promised did not vote for us,” he said. “Such things happen in elections. God knows what has happened.”
Asked about allegations made by People’s Conference president and MLA Sajad Lone that the NC had engaged in cross-voting and struck a “fixed match” with the BJP, Abdullah dismissed the claims as baseless.
“Everyone says something or the other,” he said. “If we had gifted them (the BJP), how would our fourth man have got 21 votes? We have not gifted anyone.”
He revealed that it was the BJP that had proposed a deal before the elections.
“They came to us and said: ‘Don’t contest the election. Give us one seat, and you can take three.’ We said no — we have come to the field and will decide it in the field,” the former Chief Minister said.
