‘Why are people in jail only contesting against me?’: Omar says BJP, independents have struck a deal

“To stop these forces, we have to vote carefully in these elections,” said Omar, adding that people “who have struck a deal with Delhi” will not address the issues of the people of J&K.

Referring to Home Minister Amit Shah’s comments in Jammu while unveiling the BJP’s election manifesto for the J&K Assembly polls, Omar said, “Just yesterday, he (Shah) was naming the parties with whom they are not ready to form the government. There are many parties that he did not even mention, which means that if they (BJP) get the opportunity, they will join hands with the independents contesting against me, the (J&K) Apni Party and the People’s Conference.”

He said he was hoping that the Home Minister would mention jailed MP Engineer Rashid’s party (Awami Ittehad Party) among those the BJP won’t ally with, “but he was silent about them as well, which means that if the BJP wants, it can even go to them (AIP) to form government”.

“Why are people in jail only contesting against me,” asked Omar, pointing to Engineer Rashid, who defeated him in the Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla, and Sarjan Barkati, the face of the 2016 protests in Kashmir, who has filed his nomination papers against Omar from Ganderbal. Barkati has also filed his nomination from the Beerwah seat that Omar represented in the last Assembly polls. However, this time the NC leader is contesting from adjoining Budgam as the second seat.

“When this (Rashid contesting against Omar from jail) happened in Baramulla, I did not consider it wrong because the candidate belongs to that area and has contested from the seat earlier as well. However, in these Assembly elections, the candidate (Barkati) whose nomination was rejected in Shopian, will contest Ganderbal,” Omar said.

He said he could identify the “designs” behind these nomination attempts and now wants to prove that people contesting against him from jails “are part of a well-considered conspiracy”.

The NC leader alleged that these candidates have been “deliberately fielded” in these elections by the Centre to target him. “Independent candidates cannot work for the people, they have only been fielded to divide votes in this election and to weaken our voice,” he said.

Both Ganderbal and Budgam constituencies are part of the 26 Assembly segments that will go to polls in the second phase on September 25.