Withdraw your candidates, leave the field: Omar takes aim at Mehbooba

“They will say that if NC and Congress accept our agenda, we will not field candidates,” Omar Abdullah said. “You have put all our agenda in your manifesto. You have already accepted our entire agenda… Now, withdraw your candidates and leave the field,” he said at an election rally in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal.

The NC had released its manifesto last Monday. The PDP’s manifesto was released Saturday.

On the similarities between the two, Abdullah said, “They (PDP) should have kept at least a little difference. We talked about 200 units of free electricity, and they have also kept it (in their manifesto). We talked about one lakh jobs, and they have also talked about one lakh jobs. We talked about the opening of these roads, and that is in their manifesto as well… Whatever my colleagues kept in our manifesto, that is in their manifesto as well.”

On Saturday, while releasing the PDP manifesto, Mufti had said that if the Congress and the NC agree to, and implement, the PDP’s agenda, then her party will not field candidates against them.

“If Congress or National Conference are ready to adopt our agenda – that resolution of Kashmir is necessary, opening of roads etc – we will tell them ‘you contest the elections, we will rally behind you’,” Mufti had said, adding, “For us, the resolution of the Kashmir problem is much more important than anything else. The dignity of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which is being trampled, is more important for us.”

While the two parties have made almost similar promises on what they would do if elected to power, the PDP has also promised to fight for the resolution of the Kashmir issue, and called for dialogue between India and Pakistan for the same.

“The PDP remains unwavering in its commitment to resolving the Kashmir issue, recognising it as the cornerstone for lifting the people of Jammu and Kashmir out of the present cycle of violence and unrest,” reads the PDP manifesto. It said the party would advocate diplomatic initiatives between India and Pakistan, cross-LoC trade and regional cooperation.

The NC, on the other hand, promised to strive for “full implementation of the autonomy resolution” that was passed by its government in 2000, but rejected by the Centre.