On Congress losses, Omar Abdullah asks: ‘Why didn’t they give seats to Akhilesh Yadav in Madhya Pradesh?’

However, he said, the results speak otherwise – Congress could neither hold on to Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, nor win Madhya Pradesh.

He described the BJP victory in Madhya Pradesh as “huge”, given that the party has been in power there for the past 20 years if one leaves aside Kamal Nath’s short stint. “This is the BJP’s fifth term” in office, he said.

#WATCH | Udhampur, J&K: On the future of the INDIA Alliance, National Conference Vice President and former J&K CM Omar Abdullah says, “I cannot say anything. The situation of the INDIA Alliance in the state elections, if the same continues in the future, then we will not be able… pic.twitter.com/v00w301HlY

— ANI (@ANI) December 3, 2023

Pointing out that the Congress should have given some seats to its INDIA partner, the Samajwadi Party, to contest in Madhya Pradesh, he said the party had not been able to understand the ground situation there.

“What harm could have happened if they had given five-seven seats to Akhilesh Yadav”? he asked. “What have they won now? The results are in front of everyone.”

Asked whether the NC will contest assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir alongside INDIA partners, he said that the party will be “standing on its own”.

Omar’s statement assumes significance given that the National Conference is a constituent of the opposition alliance, which also includes the PDP.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the NC is also part of the Gupkar Alliance, which has members in parties such as PDP, CPI(M), Awami National Conference and CPI.

Though the Gupkar alliance partners had contested together in the maiden District Development Council elections in J&K in 2020 and won the highest number of seats (110 out of 180), Omar has minced no words over his party going it alone in the Lok Sabha polls.