Alliance strained? Congress rejects NC’s Nagrota offer amid RS seat row

Jammu Tawi, Oct 20: In a move widely seen as a protest against the denial of a Rajya Sabha seat by the National Conference, the Congress has declined the offer to contest the Nagrota Assembly seat. The party said that it has decided to leave the seat to its ally, the National Conference, in the interest of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In a statement issued last night, the party said it has decided against contesting the seat, keeping in view the larger interests and the goal of defeating the BJP.

“After detailed deliberations over the report of the Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, and taking into account various factors – including the fact that in the last Assembly elections in 2024, which were contested by Congress and NC on a friendly basis, the National Conference had secured second position in the final election results of the said constituency – the central leadership of the INC has decided to leave the seat to its ally, the National Conference, in furtherance of the broader principles and goals of the coalition to defeat the BJP,” said JKPCC Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma.

The ties between the National Conference and Congress have taken a hit after the former refused to offer the latter a safe seat in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled for October 24. The NC had offered Congress the fourth, relatively riskier seat, which the latter declined to contest.

The Congress leadership in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in New Delhi, is miffed over the National Conference’s ‘reneging’ on its commitment to offer a ‘safe’ seat to the party in the Rajya Sabha polls.

A by-election was necessitated in Nagrota by the demise of BJP legislator Devender Singh Rana on October 31 last year, while the Budgam seat fell vacant after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah retained Ganderbal — his family’s bastion — after winning the two assembly seats.

“The Indian National Congress has decided to leave the Nagrota assembly seat to its ally National Conference, keeping in view the larger interests and goals of defeating the BJP,” Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said in a statement.

Downplaying rift with the Congress over seat-sharing in Rajya Sabha elections, NC vice-president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said that “if the Congress has a better candidate for Nagrota, we are ready to compromise (by supporting Congress and not fight the election). We have no objection”.