CM Omar Abdullah blames ‘betrayal’ by certain MLAs for NC’s missed RS seat

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said that the ruling National Conference (NC) was unable to win all the four Rajya Sabha seats in yesterday’s polling as the party faced “betrayal” from certain MLAs during the voting process.

Talking to media persons in Srinagar, he denied cross voting by the NC members. The party won three seats, while the fourth seat went to the BJP due to “betrayal” of certain MLAs.

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Referring to Peoples Conference MLA Sajad Lone, Omar said, “He did not want to vote against BJP, and is now making reels like a professor. But he had some compulsion and did not want to harm the BJP and openly boycotted the elections by abstaining.

“No one should have complaints about the 3-1 result. We tried our best to make it 4-0, but as I said in my X post on Friday, we faced betrayal from some quarters at the last moment. Almost everyone now knows the names of those who betrayed us. I do not think it is necessary to repeat it here, but it was regretful,” he said.

He said it was unfortunate that “people who were sitting with us, eating with us, finally stood with the BJP. I don’t want to take names; they stand exposed before the people”.

Such people, Abdullah said, should have shown some courage and stated openly that they wanted to support the BJP.

He expressed satisfaction that all NC votes remained intact, adding, “I thank all those who voted in favour of the NC, especially the Congress, PDP and other colleagues. I regret those who betrayed us at the last moment. But I am satisfied that not a single NC vote went to others. All the (NC) voters showed their polling slips to our chief agent, and not a single vote of NC was wasted.”

Omar thanked all parties that supported the NC and said its MPs would raise issues, including statehood and J&K’s special status restoration.