Srinagar: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday, April 3, announced that her party would be fielding candidates on all the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir. Mehbooba credited Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference for her decision.  

"They (National Conference) have left no option for us other than to field candidates and contest the elections," Mufti told reporters on Wednesday. The party’s Parliamentary Board would take a final call on the candidates, she added. 

Mufti Blames Abdullah For Rift 

Mufti blamed Farooq Abdullah for her decision to contest the upcoming elections solo. "When the INDI alliance's meeting took place in Mumbai, I said there that since (NC president) Farooq Abdullah is our senior leader, he will take a decision (on seat-sharing) and will do justice. I had hoped he would keep the party interests aside," she said. But the NC took the decision to contest all the three seats in Kashmir unilaterally, she added.

Mufti said if the NC had approached her and consulted the PDP before announcing the decision, her party could have decided not to field candidates in the larger interests of Kashmir.

"Youth are in jails, we cannot raise our voices, even the family members of employees cannot say anything. There is an atmosphere of oppression here. So, in such an atmosphere, it is imperative for us to stand united," she said expressing disappointment.

"But, the way Omar (Abdullah) announced the decision without taking us into confidence, and by saying that the PDP has no workers or support so they will not get a single seat, it hurt my workers and broke their hearts," she added.

PDP Vs NC in Kashmir 

Mehbooba Mufti's announcement comes after the National Conference clarified that it would field its candidates on all three seats. The National Conference has, however, left two seats in Jammu for the Congress as part of the INDI bloc's seat-sharing agreement.

There is a clear rift between the INDI bloc partners- National Conference and PDP in Jammu and Kashmir as the two parties have not been able to arrives at consensus over seat sharing arrangement. 

National Conference (NC) had won all the three parliamentary seats from Kashmir – Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag – in the 2019 elections, and had remain consistent that NC candidates will contest from these seats in the upcoming elections.