INDIA alliance confident of victory in all 5 parliamentary seats in UT: J&K Congress chief

JAMMU: Hitting out at the BJP government at the Centre for not conducting assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir “for nearly a decade”, the state unit chief of Congress, Vikar Rasool Wani, on Monday said opposition bloc INDIA will win all five seats in the Union territory in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Wani said the BJP would face a resounding defeat in the elections just like they lost the Kargil council polls. J&K has been without an elected government since 2018, and the last assembly polls were held in 2014.

"BJP faces such a defeat in all future elections just like their bitter defeat in the Kargil council polls. They tried to engineer a misinformation campaign to make light of their defeat. They will face a similar defeat in assembly and parliament elections in the future," Wani told reporters in Kishtwar.

He said that the BJP's reluctance to hold elections stems from their anticipation of defeat in all polls. "They are evading elections because they are anticipating defeat. This explains their reluctance in conducting municipal and panchayat elections. They have been evading assembly elections for nearly a decade now," he said.

He expressed confidence in the INDIA alliance's prospects in the elections. “All five seats in Jammu and Kashmir will be clinched by the INDIA alliance. The people will rally behind the alliance," he said.

Wani said that if assembly elections were held, the BJP might find themselves “fleeing across the Lakhanpur entry point into Jammu and Kashmir”.

Replying to a question about the absence of National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and PDP chief Mebooba Mufti from a joint opposition protest held in Jammu on October 10, Wani said that there were no differences among the opposition parties.

"Due to his old age, Dr Farooq Abdullah was unable to participate in the meeting, although his supporters were in attendance. Leaders and members from NC, PDP and Congress, alongside others, were present," he said.

The Congress chief accused the BJP of imposing a state of emergency in Jammu and Kashmir. and alleged that they were exploiting Jammu and Kashmir's resources like in the case of power projects in Kishtwar.

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