J&K: Cracks appear in PAGD, National Conference to fight assembly elections on its own

All is not well within the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD). The division and differences among the parties have come to the fore for the first time. The regional political party National Conference has announced that it will contest upcoming assembly elections on its own.

The National Conference in a press release said that members expressed dismay over the ''recent statements, audio jingles, and speeches made by some of the constituents of the PAGD targeting JKNC. The provincial committee members unanimously resolved that JKNC should prepare to contest all the 90 assembly seats."

However, the president of the National Conference and chairman of the Gupkar Alliance, Dr. Farooq Abdullahsaid that all is well with the PAGD, and the alliance will never break. He stated that the decision on whether to run in an alliance or separately will be made at a later date when elections will be held.

"If you cannot be courageous, you cannot do anything good for the people. Besides, there is a need to keep ourselves ready for the sacrifices," Abdullah said.

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The other alliance partners in the PAGD have also come out in support of the PAGD Unity. PDP chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari said that PAGD came into existence for a larger cause. "As far as some constituents issuing statements vis a vis the election, if any constituent has any reservation in the electoral alliance, it will be their own decision. but definitely would not affect the unity of PAGD. PAGD will continue to fight for the rights and dignity of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

Other political parties like the BJP and Apni Party termed the PAGD alliance as unholy and said it was bound to break.

BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur said that the statement from the National Conference about going solo in the upcoming elections means all is not well within the alliance. ''The alliance is about to break as there are many ideological differences among the parties in the PAGD. And it's quite evident now, after the statement of NC, that it's bound to break soon. NC has understood that people have not accepted PAGD and that's why they want to break free from the alliance,'' Thakur added.

Apni Party vice president Ghulam Hassan Mir said thatPAGD has no roadmap or vision. "The National Conference is a political party, and their main motive is power. They will fight elections on their own, NC Patron Farooq Abdullah has handed over the power to his son Omar, and it's his responsibility to keep the party intact. Farooq Abdullah tries to be bigger than he is. He is trying to be more than the National Conference, which is not a fact."

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