Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has sharply responded to accusations made by People’s Conference President Sajad Lone, who labeled the recent Rajya Sabha election as a “fixed match” between the National Conference and the BJP.
Addressing the media, CM Abdullah questioned the validity of Lone’s comments, pointing out that someone who initially opted out of participating in the polls should not be commenting on the results. Abdullah accused Lone of indirectly supporting the BJP by abstaining from voting and urged him to clearly state his political affiliations. He asserted that the people of Handwara had not elected Lone to remain silent or play a dual role in politics.
“Why should someone who wasn’t even willing to participate in the election initially comment on anything? First, he should explain what compelled him to help the BJP. If he wanted to prevent match-fixing, he could at least have come and cast his vote. The people of Handwara didn’t send him here to remain silent and play a double role. At least he should openly say whether he is with the BJP or not. When the election was announced, I said that those who don’t participate or abstain are directly helping the BJP,” the J-K CM stated.
Furthermore, Omar Abdullah dismissed Lone’s allegations as “baseless.” He emphasized that the National Conference is the sole political party actively challenging the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir. Abdullah stated, “There is no understanding… At the end of the day, today, the only party that is taking the BJP head-on in J&K is the National Conference. We are the ones who contested against them in the Rajya Sabha elections, nobody else… These claims that the NC has a secret understanding with the BJP are baseless… We did everything we could. I have no regrets that we could have done more. Now, if some people have sold their conscience, we are not to blame.”
Earlier, on October 25, Sajad Lone had alleged on X that the National Conference had engaged in discussions with the BJP regarding the Rajya Sabha polls. Lone quoted Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s claim that the BJP had offered a deal for three Rajya Sabha seats, suggesting a dialogue mechanism existed between the parties and questioning if allies were informed about this dialogue, leading to his “Fixed match” comment.
The ruling Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) secured three out of the four Rajya Sabha seats from Jammu and Kashmir in the recent elections. The party announced the victory of senior leader Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Sajad Kichloo, and Shammi Oberoi. Meanwhile, BJP’s Sat Paul Sharma won a seat with 32 votes, while NC’s Imran Nabi Dar received 22 votes.