Another INDIA Setback As Mehbooba Mufti Preps For "Own Fight" In Polls

The INDIA opposition bloc faces yet another possible crisis - over the seat-sharing bogey - after ex-Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party said Monday that it is preparing to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha election - now just a few weeks away - on its own.

Ms Mufti's PDP said its parliamentary board will shortly decide on candidates for the union territory's six Lok Sabha seats, which are split between the Bharatiya Janata Party (in power at the centre) and the National Conference of another former Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah.

"Since they (the National Conference) has already taken a decision... we will discuss it. There will be deliberations and a future course of action will be decided (soon)," the PDP's Suhail Bukhari said.

Last week Farooq Abdullah said the NC would fight the Lok Sabha election on its own steam.

The comments caused a flutter given INDIA is scrambling for survival after being dumped by founder and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and snubbed by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Aam Aadmi Party. And today, Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party dropped its own ultimatum.

And, in Uttar Pradesh, the alliance is expected to lose Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal to the BJP, despite the outfit having agreed a deal last month with the Samajwadi Party.

However, shortly after Farooq Abdullah's comment, his son, also a former Chief Minister, said the National Conference will remain a part of INDIA and is, in fact, in talks with the Congress, which heads the group, for three of six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

"We were part of INDIA and still are... things have been taken out of context. The main idea of the grouping is to defeat the BJP, for there is no point in sailing in two boats," he said.

Farooq Abdullah's comment - "there should be no questions on this alliance anymore..." - came as a surprise give the three-time former J&K Chief Minister was a supporter and attended all meetings.

Last month, though, he his concern over the lack of consensus within the bloc on seat-sharing deals, worries also flagged earlier by Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, and others, including Mr Yadav.

"If we have to save the country, we have to forget (our) differences..." he had said.

The BJP, meanwhile, has jumped at the chance to criticise its rivals, with party spokesperson RS Pathania telling NDTV, "This is a ragtag conglomerate in which participants have least convergence on any issues of policy, agenda or manifesto. The alliance almost falls (apart) like a house of cards."

The PDP's move comes days after Farooq Abdullah declared his party, while remaining part of the under-pressure INDIA grouping, "will contest elections on its own strength". Sources said this call was based on an internal assessment that said the party could win at least three seats on its own.

As a result, sources said, the National Conference is unwilling to give up seats.

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