‘INDIA bloc formed to reduce seats of BJP, not of partners in LS polls’

National Conference will hold a second round of discussions with Congress on seat-sharing in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Union territories for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls as the two parties could not reach an understanding in the earlier round of talks held last week, party’s vice president Omar Abdullah said here on Tuesday.

He said Congress-led INDIA bloc was formed to reduce the seats of BJP and not of its own alliance partners in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, and reiterated that the party will not “surrender” any of the three seats in Kashmir that it has won in the last general election. “There has been one round of discussion in New Delhi. There were certain proposals put forward by the Congress which required to be discussed within the NC party. One of the proposals that they had has not found acceptance from the NC senior leadership that is there. So, we will go back. We will have a second round of discussion,” Abdullah said. NC had won Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag seats and BJP was victorious on Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh in the 2019 general elections.

“Why should we surrender a seat? The aim of the INDIA alliance is to reduce the seats of BJP and not reduce the seats of INDIA alliance members. We are discussing only three seats,” Abdullah said.

He said there has been only one round of discussions in New Delhi recently on the seat-sharing agreement among the INDIA bloc partners.