National Conference Wednesday expressed surprise over what it called the “clandestine PDP-BJP bonhomie” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the two parties were “still in alliance and hand-in-glove to influence the polls by deceit and deception”.
“We have credible information about PDP soliciting theadvice and direction of the BJP for fielding candidates, convenient to it, forJammu-Poonch and Kathua-Udhampur parliamentary constituencies to facilitatedivision of anti-BJP votes in order to ensure the victory of BJP candidates,”senior National Conference leaders said in a joint statement issued here.
“The arrangement of convenience is at its final stage”.
The National Conference leaders accused the PDP of”brightening BJP’s prospect in the two parliamentary constituencies by fieldingsuch candidates who can divide the anti-BJP votes”.
“Essentially a product of the BJP, the PDP did it covertlyin 2009 and overtly in 2014,” the statement read.
The NC leaders described PDP’s anti-BJP posturing as a”façade”, saying the duo was in fact on the same page.
“The BJP is in the process of giving names of the candidatesconvenient to it, who can cut the votes and have field day for its owncandidates,” the NC statement read.
The senior National Conference leaders also said they “see alarger and sinister design in (BJP) withdrawing the support to PDP-ledgovernment in Jammu and Kashmir last year, months ahead of the scheduled LokSabha elections”, saying “all this drama was enacted to offset the growingcriticism within BJP’s core constituency across the country over aligning withan anti-national party”.
“By adopting this modus-operandi, the PDP and BJP wereactually complementing and supplementing each other in their respective constituenciesby taking ‘north pole-south pole’ posturing,” the joint statement read,condemning the “PDP’s politics of deceit and deception”.
The National Conference lashed out at PDP for “compromisingwith the interests of the people at a time when the state was at a crossroadsof its history and passing through most difficult times, with inimical elementshell bent upon trampling its status and special identity”.
“The arrangement appears to be a worst kind of quid-pro-quowith the PDP expecting loaves of power once the BJP is settled in Delhi thronefor another five years,” the statement said, adding that the duo has “workedout a dubious strategy to have win-win situation for both”.
“The PDP is playing villain to the people, who aredetermined to uphold their special and unique identity, irrespective ofregional and religious affiliations”, National Conference leaders alleged andwarned the PDP over “playing with fire by indulging in doublespeak and murkypolitics”.
They termed the PDP’s “so-called extreme posturing” in theValley as “well-played role of a smart storyline scripted in Nagpur withsinister motivation of facilitating BJP victory in the backdrop of Kashmirlocale, making it a theatre of cross border conflict”.
“Electors of Jammu and Kashmir will not oblige the PDP andthe BJP to succeed in their dubious plot as they are politically mature enoughto read between the lines”, the NC leaders said and complimented the people for”their determination to foil the attempts of the anti-state political actors”.
Besides provincial president Devender Singh Rana, thesignatories to the joint statement, according to NC, are: Surjeet SinghSlathia; Ajay Kumar Sadhotra; Rattan Lal Gupta; Th Rachpal Singh; Th KashmiraSingh; Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo; Khalid Najeeb Suharwardhy; Sheikh Abdul Rehman;Syed Mushtaq Ahmed Shah Bukhari; S Harbans Singh; Abdul Gani Malik; S.Trilochan Singh Wazir; Vijay Bakaya; Ajaz Jan; B R Kundal; Qazi Jalal-ud-Din;Sheikh Bashir; Haji Mohammed Hussain; Dr Kamal Arora; Vijay Laxmi Dutta; Satwant Kour Dogra; Mohd Aslam Khan; ChLiaqat Ali advocate; Jagjeevan Lal; Dr Chaman Lal; Dr Gagan Bhagat; BimlaLuthra; Deepender Kour; Swaran Lata; Mehboob Iqbal; Issrar Khan; Vijay Lochan;Abdul Gani Teli; Romy Khajuria; Ajit Kumar Sharma and others.