SRINAGAR: Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference received ally Congress’s full backing for what it termed “the larger cause” and conditional support from the opposition PDP for Friday’s election to four Rajya Sabha seats in J&K, vacant since 2021.”We received a call from Farooq Abdullah…We will support NC in the Rajya Sabha, and in return, we expect they will back our land bill,” PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said at a presser.PDP’s “anti-bulldozer bill” seeks to regularise land holdings of individuals, families and institutions “in continuous possession” for over 30 years, besides a bar on arbitrary evictions and steps to ensure ownership security.”We have been informed by NC that they will support pro-people bills, and we expect the party will keep its word,” Mehbooba said.State Congress president Tariq Hamid Karra read out a statement from the party brass, promising to keep its differences with the Omar Abdullah govt aside. “Having taken into account our sensitivities as a suffering state, and as also a tested voice for a diverse India…(we) will prove our commitment to our ethos,” the statement reads.”During the 2024 elections, we chose unity over division, ignoring all dissenting voices, to defeat BJP and free the people of J&K from a climate of fear and suppression.” This is the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 that the Union territory will elect four members to the Upper House.The J&K assembly currently has 88 members – NC 41, BJP 28, Congress 6, PDP 3, and People’s Conference, AAP and CPI(M) a seat each. Five members are Independents, with whose support the governing alliance has a strength of 53.
