Engineer Rashid accuses Omar, Lone of ganging up against him

SRINAGAR: Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid accused National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone of conspiring to defeat independent candidates backed by his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) in the ongoing J&K assembly elections.

“Just a few days ago, Omar was branding everyone, including Lone and Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party, as BJP’s B teams. I have irrefutable evidence that Omar and Lone have ganged up to defeat Engineer Rashid in north Kashmir and elsewhere. Can Omar tell us now which party is BJP's B team?” Rashid said Monday, while alleging that the regional parties in Kashmir had united to bring down his yet-to-be-recognised AIP.

Rashid questioned former J&K CM Omar for accepting support from a party he had criticised. “Muntazir Mohiuddin of Apni Party extended support to Omar in Budgam (where the NC vice president is contesting). According to Omar, the same Apni Party was BJP’s B team. How did he accept the support?”

Arrested in 2019 by NIA and imprisoned in New Delhi’s Tihar jail on terrorism-funding charges, 57-year-old Rashid defeated Omar and Lone in the Lok Sabha elections this summer as an independent. On Sept 11, he was released from Tihar on interim bail till Oct 2 to campaign in J&K’s first assembly elections since 2014.

His rivals have accused him of being a BJP proxy. Rashid refuted the charge, asserting that he has always opposed the policies of PM Modi’s govt and would continue to do so.

Farooq slams BJP

NC president Farooq Abdullah criticised BJP and accused PM Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath of remaining silent on the alleged gang rape of a young Dalit woman in Ayodhya, who’s part of the Ram Mandir cleaning staff.

“Isn’t she our sister? Isn’t she our daughter? They (BJP) claim to be protectors. They can’t protect anybody. They can only protect their chairs,” Abdullah said Monday.

Commenting on BJP’s remarks that NC would revoke the reservation status of Paharis, Gujjars, Bakarwals, and other marginalised classes, Abdullah said: “BJP governed for 10 years, so why didn’t they give ST status to Paharis during that time? Why was ST status given just before the parliamentary elections? Pahari people know this, and they will not fall into their trap.”