Omar Abdullah & Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi.
Credit: PTI, X/@RuhullahMehdi
After months of suspense, National Conference (NC) on Friday nominated former chief minister Omar Abdullah as its candidate from Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in north Kashmir, where he is set to face a formidable challenge from People’s Conference chief Sajjad Lone.
The NC also nominated influential Shia leader Aga Syed Ruhullah as its candidate for Srinagar parliamentary seat where he will face challenge from PDP’s young leader Waheed Parra.
Addressing a presser here, the NC chief Farooq Abdullah said that the party high command has decided that Omar will contest from north Kashmir while Ruhullah will be the candidate for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.
Speaking on the occasion, Omar said this time, their fight is not against any individual. “In north Kashmir, my fight is not against any candidate, my fight is with those powers which are behind that candidate,” he said in a direct reference to Sajjad Lone, the separatist-turned-mainstream politician.
“It has been decided that I will be contesting from north Kashmir because BJP is focusing a lot on north Kashmir. I want that these powers should be defeated in north Kashmir. Aga Ruhullah will contest from Central Kashmir,” the scion of the Abdullah dynasty said.
While Congress has decided to support the NC on all three valley seats, Omar will face a formidable challenge from Sajjad Lone. The PDP candidate and former Rajya Sabha Member Mir Fayaz is another strong candidate.
Spread over 18 assembly segments, the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat would be one of the keenly watched contests as electoral dynamics in the constituency have changed after delimitation. Before delimitation, the constituency had been a forte of the NC as the party wrested the seat ten times since 1957. The Congress has won four times and the PDP once, in 2014.