People’s Conference has named its Chairman Sajad Lone as the party candidate for the Lok Sabha seat from North Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency.
The announcement was made by People’s Conference General Secretary Imran Ansari on Monday.
Ansari also said that apart from Baramulla, the party would also decide on the other two Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir in the next two weeks.
The party also made it clear that they would not fight in the Jammu region.
Ansari was assigned by the party to hold discussions with party leaders, and ascertain the best possible way forward in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
“…Based on my discussion with the party leaders we have decided to fight and field a candidate from the Baramulla Parliamentary seat. We will take a call about other seats based on our limited resources and also how best to defeat the common enemy of the people of J and K.
Apart from Baramulla, we will fight only where we believe we can win on our own and either seek support or give support respectively to any party best suited to defeat the biggest enemy of the people of J and K,” the party General Secretary said, adding that they would not fight in the Jammu region and will not be instrumental in wasting or diverting a single vote through vote division.
“Our position about other two seats in the Kashmir region will become clear in the coming week or at the most two weeks,” he said.
The People’s Conference leader said for the Baramulla Parliamentary seat the leadership and the rank and file of the party has overwhelmingly endorsed the candidature of our party President Sajad Gani Lone.
“Mr Sajad Lone has acceded to the demand of the party. He will be the candidate of the party from Baramulla Lok Sabha seat,” Ansari said.
“We all wish him the best and believe that the fiercest speeches on the floor of the parliament, advocating the just cause of our people will finally be delivered by Mr Sajad Lone after a painful wait of 7 decades. The people of J and K will finally get the chance to roar,” he said.
The announcement of Lone’s candidature comes at a time when the INDIA alliance is yet to make up its mind as to who will contest the polls in J&K. While the National Conference has made it clear that it was keen to contest all the three seats from the valley, the other INDIA alliance constituent Peoples Democratic Party is not ready to leave the space for NC.
There are also speculations that Altaf Bukahri’s Apni Party and People’s Conference may have an alliance in the upcoming polls, and if happens it will be a tough contest for the INDIA alliance in Baramulla Lok Sabha seat.
