Mehbooba Mufti said she will not contest the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, pointing out that she would not be able to fulfil her party's agenda in the union territory set up even if she were to become the chief minister.
'The Congress backstabbed us and the BJP frontstabbed us.' 'This is the only difference between the two parties.'
Scenes from the election campaign in New Delhi, Mainpuri, Bardhaman, Srinagar, Etah, Mumbai and Puri.
Tral, the former hotbed of terrorism, rocks to the music of democracy.
'Article 370 is now dug 70 feet deep in the ground. It cannot come out.'
What the election demonstrated is that the BJP has a stranglehold on most of the Hindu votes in the Union territory, observes David Devadas.
'We want to ensure that no government in J&K will be formed without our support.'
A total of 78 Muslims were in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections this year, a significant drop from the last polls when 115 Muslim candidates were fielded by various parties.
The Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday virtually turned down the offer of support from its arch rival National Conference for government formation, dimming the prospects of an early resolution to the political stalemate resulting from the hung verdict in last month's assembly polls.
The National Conference is a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and will continue to be, party leader Omar Abdullah clarified on Thursday and said it is in talks with the Congress for an arrangement in three of the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
If Rashid cannot be the king, he could be the kingmaker after October 8 when the results to the J&K assembly are declared.
'INDIA will easily cross 50 seats out of 90 in Jammu and Kashmir.'
Every trick in the trade is being tried unabashedly.
In simple arithmetical terms every possible 'arrangement' is being made to deny a majority to its rivals. A split verdict would hand a vital advantage to the BJP which is adept at extracting the best out of such a situation, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The Army cancelled the event "due to implementation of the Model Code of Conduct".
'If the country felt very strongly about the BJP, then why did the country not put money where the mouth is?'
Meanwhile, police did not allow journalists to gather near National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah's residence at Gupkar here, officials said.
'We have been cheated. We are trying to bring Article 370 back'
People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and several other regional party leaders on Monday claimed that they have been placed under house arrest on the fifth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The terrorists also snatched the AK-47 rifle of the NC leader's personal guard.
Those familiar with intricate Kashmir politics do not rule out further delay in the assembly elections. Primarily, because the BJP having 'invested' so much for so long in Kashmir would try its best to wait a little longer if only to secure the 'gains' it believes to have achieved after its deafening action on August 5, 2019, points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The National Conference and the Congress have started back-channel talks to try and form a coalition to form a government in the light of the fractured verdict. NC sources said such an arrangement would best serve the interests of both the parties and the state. National Conference president Omar Abdullah, who is seen as the prospective chief minister, said earlier in the day that the NC will approach the Congress, which is a like-minded party, to form the government.
Film folk celebrate International Yoga Day with pictures of them doing, well, yoga!
Abdullah, who put out multiple posts, also apologised to the people of J-K and Ladakh. "Disappointed but not disheartened. The struggle will continue," he said.
'All through the making of Dil Daulat Aur Duniya, Rajesh Khanna never acknowledged me.' 'Dev Anand couldn't carry off a dhoti in Insaaniyat. He told me that he would never wear one again.' 'Shammi Kapoor and I began on an icy note during Raajkumar, but once the cold vibes thawed, we became the best of buddies.'
The ruling coalition between the Congress and the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir may split amid indications that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was considering resigning following sharp differences between the two parties.
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The outgoing Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday hinted at an intriguing possibility of supporting his party National Conference's bitter political rival PDP in forming a government in the state after the hung verdict in the Assembly polls.
Mehbooba had announced on Monday that she had convened an all party meeting on July 21 to discuss the prevailing law and order situation in the Kashmir valley.
The Opposition INDIA bloc on Friday finalised a 14-member coordination-cum-election strategy committee comprising members of various parties, and it will function as the alliance's highest decision-making body and start work on seat-sharing immediately, sources said.
The Enforcement Directorate questioned former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah for five hours on Thursday in connection with a case related to the purchase of a building by the J&K Bank about 12 years ago when he was in office, officials said in New Delhi.
The plan to relieve NSG from VIP security tasks has been in the making since 2012 when NSG commanders foresaw an event where simultaneous terror attacks could be witnessed at one time on multiple centres in the country and the commandos will have to be rushed in different directions.
Congress on Wednesday downplayed reports of a possible split in its alliance with the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir even as NC president Farooq Abdullah said that his son and state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would take the final decision on the ties between the two parties.
'My mother feels it will be tough and emotional for her to enter an assembly which has essentially been reduced to a municipality now.' 'My opinion is that even if it is a municipality one cannot cede that space to the BJP.'
'With all outlets of public expression virtually choked for the last five years, suppressed anger and frustration is looking for an opening via the ballot box.' 'There is no escape from the inevitability of the 'Engineer Rashid' factor surfacing in a big enough way to upset everyone's applecart,' alerts Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
As early trends indicated a hung assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, senior Congress leader Karan Singh on Sunday favoured an alliance between the Congress and the National Conference, arguing that the two parties were 'ideologically more compatible'. "Personally, I feel that an NC-Congress alliance will be more compatible. This is my personal view," Singh said. But a decision will be taken by the Party's central leadership, he added.
'If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the state's post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
'I take back my comment, but, now that you proved it was genuine love between the NC and the PDP that prompted a failed govt formation attempt'
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Monday to caste their votes in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Abdullah said there was an urgent need to take steps which would provide relief to the people, like opening of more trans-LoC routes, simplifying travel procedure and starting of trade between the two sides of the Line of Control.
The row broke out after a private television news agency attributed the excerpts of the article shared by the NC leader to him.
Former NC minister and leader of opposition Abdul Rahim Rather was addressing a convention of party's youth wing at Akad-Pahalgam.
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