BJP’s Kashmir hopes rest on Sajad Gani Lone’s two seats

The BJP had not fielded a candidate against Lone and many of his other party candidates in north Kashmir.

WHILE the BJP failed to win even a single seat in Kashmir, its “friend” in the Valley, Sajad Gani Lone, had his best day at the polls. His Peoples Conference won two out of five seats in Kupwara and left an imprint in other constituencies of the frontier district. Lone himself won from Handwara.

With a hung Assembly making every seat matter, Lone on Tuesday indicated he was keeping his options open. “To be very frank, I am not dying to be part of any government,” he told The Indian Express. “If some kind of formation comes up, we will take a decision then. We will sit and decide which way to go.”

If the Peoples Democratic Party opts to ally with the Congress, it would still be short of five legislators and would need the support of smaller parties and Independents such as the Peoples Conference’s two MLAs.

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In case of a PDP-BJP alliance, Lone would assume even more significance because of his proximity with the BJP.

While avoiding a clean break from separatist tag during the poll campaign, Lone had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the elections, praised him as “big brother” and said he would not be “averse to an alliance” with the BJP.

The BJP had not fielded a candidate against Lone and many of his other party candidates in north Kashmir.

In Handwara, where he was up against National Conference minister Choudhary Ramzan, Lone won by a substantial margin of 5,423 votes. More surprisingly, Peoples Conference’s Bashir Ahmad Dar defeated the PDP’s Fayaz Ahmad Mir by 151 votes in Kupwara.

Bashaarat Masood

Bashaarat Masood is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express. He has been covering Jammu and Kashmir, especially the conflict-ridden Kashmir valley, for two decades. Bashaarat joined The Indian Express after completing his Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University in Kashmir. He has been writing on politics, conflict and development. Bashaarat was awarded with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2012 for his stories on the Pathribal fake encounter. ... Read More

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