Assembly election in J&K likely within one or two months after Lok Sabha poll: Azad

Srinagar: Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) Chief Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday said that it is likely that Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir would be held within one or two months after Lok Sabha election.

Azad said they have been hoping for the Assembly election for the last six years.

“We have been hoping for the last 6 to 7 years that Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election will be held. Now it is expected that within 1-2 months after Lok Sabha election these polls will be held .Now the people of Jammu and Kashmir cannot wait any longer, ” he told reporters after a public meeting in south Kashmir.

When asked about the cracks in People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) and if that will help the BJP, the former Congress leader said people now understand which party or candidate to vote for.

“It will be difficult to tell who will benefit from this. Now the people are very clever and they understand which party or individual to vote for..,” Azad said, adding that he had nothing to say about the PAGD split.

The PAGD- which was formed in 2020 to fight for the restoration of Article 370- is on the brink of collapse after two main constituents of the alliance NC and PDP on Friday hit out at each other publically. The cracks surfaced after Omar Abdullah refused to give any seat to ally PDP in Kashmir. Hour later Mehbooba Mufti accused the NC of ‘breaking’ the PAGD alliance .

The former JK Chief Minister said in politics every party has the right to contest the elections and there were parties in Delhi and in J&K too who say that they should only contest and no new party should contest.

He indirectly took a dig at regional parties who say that Azad has the support of BJP.

“Ask those who have been Chief Minister or Minister in their coalition government. I have never been a Minister, MP or an MLA (during the BJP rule),” the DPAP Chief said.