The National Conference is part of the Congress-led INDIA bloc, ex-Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said this evening, hours after “categorical” assertions by Farooq Abdullah, his father and also a former Chief Minister, that the party “will contest elections on its own strength”.

Omar Abdullah said the NC will remain part of INDIA and is, in fact, in talks with the Congress for three of six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

“We were part of INDIA and still are… things have been taken out of context. The main idea of the grouping is to defeat the BJP, for there is no point in sailing in two boats,” he said.

Significantly, Mr Abdullah said this with his father his side.

Earlier today Farooq Abdullah’s strongly-worded comments caused a flutter within INDIA, which is scrambling for survival after it was dumped by Nitish Kumar, the Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) boss, who was a founding member of a bloc meant to unite the opposition to defeat the BJP.

READ | Farooq Abdullah’s Party To Fight Alone In J&K In Another Setback For INDIA

INDIA has also been sidelined in Bengal by the Trinamool Congress, and in Delhi and Punjab by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, after the three failed to agree seat-sharing deals.

READ | INDIA Unity Takes Hit From Bengal. Hours Later, Another From Punjab

And, in Uttar Pradesh, the alliance is expected to lose Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal to the BJP, despite the outfit having agreed a deal last month with the Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav.

READ | “Had Limited Time To Make Decision…”: RLD Leader On BJP Alliance Buzz

Farooq Abdullah’s comment came as a surprise give the three-time former J&K Chief Minister was a strong supporter of the INDIA bloc idea and attended all its meetings.

“There should be no questions on this alliance anymore,” he declared earlier today.

Last month he expressed his concern over the lack of consensus within the bloc on seat-sharing deals, worries also flagged earlier by Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, and others, including Mr Yadav.

“If we have to save the country, we have to forget (our) differences…” he had said.

Farooq Abdullah was recently summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged financial irregularities within the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. 

READ | Farooq Abdullah Summoned For Questioning In Money Laundering Case

The case involves alleged siphoning of funds through transfers to personal bank accounts of unrelated parties, and unexplained cash withdrawals from the association’s accounts.

Farooq Abdullah skipped the summons and, in an e-mail and letter to the probe agency’s officials, cited being out-of-town as the reason for his non-appearance.

With input from PTI

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Explaining his shock exit from a party he had been a part of for 38 years, former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan has said the Congress is “sinking” and discontent is brewing among its ranks. 

In an exclusive interview with NDTV on Thursday, Mr Chavan, who has been nominated for the Rajya Sabha polls by the BJP, said the “mood of the nation” is in favour of his new party and its track record on development is for all to see. 

To a question on claims that he quit the Congress and joined the BJP on Tuesday to get the Rajya Sabha nomination, the former chief minister said in Hindi, “There is no truth to this. I have been a Lok Sabha MP twice and an MLA several times. I could have asked the Congress to nominate me. The state of the Congress vis-a-vis the BJP… I don’t see them ready for a fight in the state. If you don’t fight, how will you win? There is no preparation.”

“Time has been wasted for the last year and a half. I think a better opportunity lies… What is the point of me getting elected alone? I would say the mood of the nation is increasing in the BJP’s favour by the day and the opposition is getting weaker. The work that the BJP has done under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been amazing and it is visible,” he added.

On the Congress saying that its doors are open for him and he should explain why he chose to leave, Mr Chavan said – in a possible reference to the Adarsh scam that led to his resignation as chief minister in 2010 –  that he faced many difficulties that were “politically created” and implied that he did not get enough support. 

Refusing to comment on speculation that Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam was speaking about state party chief Nana Patole when he said that Mr Chavan had quit because of one leader, the former chief minister appeared to take a dig when he said, “I have said even earlier that I don’t want to criticise anybody personally. I have left the party and joined the BJP. Even if they introspect on what has happened, it is good for them. Some people must be happy that their competition has been reduced, that is also possible.”

‘Everyone Is Worried’

Mr Chavan also refuted rumours that he had wanted to join the BJP for a long time and emphasised that he had worked for the Congress, attended every meeting and even worked to strengthen the Maha Vikas Aghadi – the party’s coalition with the Udhhav Thackery faction of the Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP – right till the last day.  

“I am grateful to the BJP that they nominated me to the Rajya Sabha within 48 hours, so they must have seen some qualities in me. I have not spoken to any Congress MLA and asked them to defect. Every person there is worried, they have problems. They are wondering what their future will look like, whether the party will win elections. These issues have not been addressed and that is why discontent is brewing,” he said. 

Admitting that he had been worried for a long time about how things were in the Congress, he said he took the decision now because it was as good a time as any.

‘How Will You Win?’

Mr Chavan was one of only two Congress candidates to win the Lok Sabha election from Maharashtra in 2014. When he was asked what has changed in the Congress between then and now, the former chief minister said, “The Congress needs to change. The problem is that the Congress has not changed. If you don’t focus on today’s challenges, today’s age, today’s aspirations and the needs of the youth, how will you win? There’s a mismatch between what people want and what we are doing, which the other side is doing skillfully.”

“Somewhere we (the Congress) are missing the mood of the nation, to tap the pulse of the people. This is an issue that, not just me, many of my former colleagues are worried about. They are saying if nothing is happening now, what will happen in the future? Nobody is speaking up, but it is sinking day by day,” he claimed. 

On discussions with the Congress high command, Mr Chavan said he had told them about the situation, but not that he was going to quit.

The new entrant to the BJP said he is excited about his new innings and is prepared to work hard with new people and a new party. He said Maratha reservation is one of the biggest issues in Maharashtra now and he will discuss it with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. 

“Farmer issues and unemployment are also problems that need to be addressed. But a solution can be found to everything,” he asserted.

The protesting farmers will continue their march to Delhi but hold another round of talks on Sunday. The decision came at a third round of talks late last night even as Friday looks forward to a nationwide strike over the farmers’ issue.

The meeting in Chandigarh was held amid a standoff on the Punjab-Haryana borders as thousands of farmers marching to Delhi were met with tear gas and water cannons by the cops. The protesters’ demands mainly include a law guaranteeing a minimum support price (MSP) for crops and a farm law waiver, among others.

Two Union Ministers – Arjun Munda and Piyush Goyal – and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann attended the meeting. Following the meeting, Arjun Munda, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, told reporters the issues will be discussed in detail at the Sunday meeting, during which the two sides will try to find a solution.

Bhagwant Mann said they had a very positive conversation and a consensus was reached on several issues. The farmers have assured they would maintain peace during their protest, he said while accusing the Haryana government of sending their cops into Punjab during the standoff.

The farmers say they will continue their march to Delhi and that no conclusion can be drawn since the talks are still on. They also took up the issues of police action on them and their social media pages were taken down.

The farmers said the government has sought further discussion on issues like the MSP and farm loan waiver, but discussions must also lead to timely solutions. “We said that we should not just keep discussing the issues, we should also find solutions. They said they need time,” said Sarwan Pandher, a farmer leader.

Gatherings have been banned in Noida because of a ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a major farmers’ organization involved in the 2020-21 farmers’ protest, and Central Trade Unions. These organisations are not part of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, but broadly their demands are the same.

The organisations have called on farmers to suspend all agricultural work between 6 am-4 pm on Friday and stage road blockades across the country. The senior leaders of nine Central Trade Unions will also hold a joint protest at Jantar Mantar over 21 demands, which include a law on MSP, minimum pension, and minimum wage.