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Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devender Singh Rana affirmed on Tuesday that the BJP and National Conference will not come together as he reiterated his earlier claim that NC leader Omar Abdullah attempted to ally with BJP in 2014.
In the run-up to the Assembly elections, the NC defector claimed that NC supremo Farooq Abdullah always wanted to go "hand-in-hand" with the central government. "He (Omar Abdullah) was interim CM and didn't want to leave power. He wanted NC to be in power in one way or the other. Farooq Abdullah was abroad and he asked him to go and talk to the BJP and stay in Government somehow. BJP was in the centre so Farooq Abdullah always wanted to go hand in hand with the central government. Now the situation will not arise for BJP and NC to come together," Rana said while addressing a press conference in Jammu on Tuesday. Rana earlier claimed that NC leader and former J-K CM Omar Abdullah met with BJP leaders Amit Shah and Ram Madhav in 2014 to request the formation of a government with NC. "Omar Abdullah is trying to mislead the people of Kashmir by telling them that every political party except the National Conference is with the BJP. In 2014, when I was a part of the National Conference, we knocked on every door asking people to form government with us as we had only 15 people. Omar Abdullah says that at the time they met Amit Shah and Ram Madhav to urge them to form the government with NC. As at the time BJP had declined NC's request, they are saying all this now," Devender Rana said on Monday. Congress and the National Conference are fighting the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir together. According to a seat-sharing agreement, the National Conference (NC) will contest 51 of the 90 seats, and the Congress will contest 32. The two parties will also contest five seats against each other. One seat each has been allocated for CPI(M) and Panthers Party. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has also extended its support to the Congress and National Conference alliance in the J-K polls. Jammu and Kashmir has 90 assembly constituencies, with 7 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 9 for Scheduled Tribes (STs). The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is scheduled to vote in three phases - September 18, 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will be on October 8. It is the first assembly poll since the abrogation of Article 370. (ANI)
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