Many NC, PDP, Congress heavyweights are set to join his party People’s Conference in the coming days.
Kashmiri leader Sajad Gani Lone is fast spreading his footprints in the entire Kashmir valley and is presently in the thick of talks with a number of heavyweights in mainstream politics as he wants to make his party People’s Conference (PC) a regional alternative to the National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Hitting out at “Shahzada” (prince) and “Shahzadi” (princess)—as he refers to former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP)—at a press conference here recently, Lone said that both of them have ganged up against him to prevent him from becoming the CM even as he wanted to provide a clean and corruption-free government to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Claiming that he had the numbers when he staked claim to form government, Lone said, “Mehbooba will never go to the court because she was desperate to save her party from vertical split and prevent me from giving a third regional alternative in J&K.”
Clarifying that it was not a crime to be an ally of the BJP, he explained that if at all it was a sin, Farooq and Omar Abdullah were the first to commit it by becoming ministers in the BJP government while Mehbooba was heading a coalition with BJP till the national party withdrew its support.
Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Lone said that when he staked claim to form government, he had the required numbers. “I had the support of BJP and 18 other lawmakers from both PDP and NC. I dare Mehbooba to go to court and prove her numbers,” he said.
Asked about his future plans, he said that his party PC would become an alternative to the dynastic politics of Omar and Mehbooba. He said that he was in talks with many influential political activists and leaders across the state.
To a query if he would go for a pre-poll alliance with BJP for any Assembly or parliamentary election, he said no and and said that his party had regional aspirations and stood for the protection of special status of the state.
At the press conference, Lone was flanked by former PDP minister Imran Raza Ansari, who has joined PC recently, and Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattu. Sources close to Lone said that very soon, many important PDP leaders and some former NC and Congress leaders would join his party. About a dozen of Gujjar and Pahari leaders from NC and Congress are in talks to join PC in near future, they added.
Talks were on with sitting PDP MP Muzzaffar Husain Beigh, his cousin and former lawmaker Jared Ahmed Beigh, MLC Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, senior PDP leader Nizamuddin Bhat and former PDP minister Abdul Haq Khan, the sources further said.
Confirming these reports, Lone told this newspaper that “Omar and Mehbooba will soon feel the heat of people’s power” as many prominent leaders from both the parties will join him. He said that he is ready to go back to the people and ask for votes on the basis of development for all the three regions. He said he would never ask for votes like others, offering to resolve Kashmir dispute.
About the criticism he was facing from the mainstream parties as well as the separatists that he is being helped by BJP and intelligence agencies, Lone said that both Mehbooba and Omar knew that they has lost the ground and hence were speaking out of frustration. About the separatists, he said that they have not been able to go beyond being “cheerleaders of death, destruction and tragedies in Kashmir”.