J&K Polls: Sajad Lone to contest from two constituencies

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (PC) chairman and former minister Sajad Gani Lone will fight the Assembly elections from his home constituency Handwara and neighbouring Kupwara. The party has decided to field Shia cleric-politician Imran Reza Ansari from Pattan segment of the Baramulla district.

In 2014 elections, Mr. Lone had won the Handwara seat whereas Mr. Ansari who was then in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) GOT elected from Pattan. Both served as ministers in the PDP-BJP government, the former from the BJP quota.

Mr. Lone finished third in the recently held Lok Sabha elections in the Baramulla constituency. But since he had performed well compared to National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah in both Handwara and Kupwara, the party decided to field him from both the segments. Mr. Abdullah had lost this election to jailed J&K Awani Itehad Party leader Sheikh Abdur Rashid popularly known as Engineer Rashid.

The PC has decided to field former MLA Bashir Ahmad Dar from Trehgam, Irfan Panditpuri from Langate, Naseer Awan from Karnah and Mudasir Akbar Shah from Lolab—all segments falling in the Kupwara district.

Meanwhile, Mr. Abdullah on Friday alleged that the BJP-led government at the Centre is encouraging more and more people to join the fray as independents against him in a bid to silence him. “I always knew that Delhi would want to silence me in some way, but I never thought that they would go to this extent”, he said while addressing an election rally in Ganderbal where he is seeking election.

He said, “In Baramulla, when a person (Engineer Rashid) stood against me in the LoK Sabha polls, having filed the papers while in jail, he recorded his message from jail and sought votes based on emotions. He defeated me in the elections.”

He added, “I did not see it as something worrisome. After the results were out, I thought luck was on Rashid's side and it was my bad luck. But when I decided to contest (assembly) polls from Ganderbal, reports started pouring in that another citizen (Sarjan Ahmad Wagay alias Barkati) who is in jail is going to contest against me”. Mr. Abdullah asked, “Now I am forced to think why these people are put after me only. Is there a conspiracy?”.

Barkati, who has been called ‘pied piper of Kashmir’s azadi’ in many news reports in the recent past is lodged in a jail here after he was rearrested by the State Investigation Agency (SIA) in August last year in a criminal case of crowdfunding and money laundering. Later his wife was also arrested.

His family has announced that he would be contesting from Ganderbal after his nomination papers in his home constituency in southern Shopian district were rejected by the ECI on technical grounds.