Talks on seat sharing within I.N.D.I.A. already on: Farooq Abdullah

Srinagar: Days after cautioning that I.N.D.I.A. may fall apart and some of its constituents could try to form a separate grouping if crucial seat-sharing is not reached soon, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Friday that talks in this direction within the bloc have already begun.

He, however, added that it may take time to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement by I.N.D.I.A. for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and that the delay will not haunt the functioning of the bloc.

“There is no delay in the seat-sharing process within I.N.D.I.A. They are already talking about it. The process will, however, take time as every political party has its own interests, and those have to be looked into. I’m confident everything will be alright,” he told reporters in Jammu.

Mr. Abdullah had told senior attorney and former Union minister Kapil Sibal in a discussion on his YouTube channel earlier during the week that if the seat-sharing arrangement is not finalised then there is a threat to I.N.D.I.A bloc. He had said that it should be done in a time-bound manner, adding, “It is possible that some (constituents) may come together to form a separate alliance, which I feel is the biggest danger. There is still time.”

Asked if the NC will agree to give some of the Lok Sabha seats in J&K to other alliance partners in the seat-sharing arrangement within the bloc, he said, “There is a question of sacrifice. The NC is going to settle the things within the alliance.”

He, however, also said that it would depend on the NC talking to other alliance partners on this issue. “We have never had difficulties with them (Congress) in sorting that out. We are going to settle these things between us. There has been no problem at all with seat sharing…We have no problem. Omar (Abdullah) told you the other day.”

Junior Abdullah who is the vice-president of the NC had on Thursday said, “Our efforts should be to win all six seats (five in J&K and one in Ladakh) and they should remain with the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.”