INDIA parties should speed up seat-sharing in favourable states: Omar

INDIA bloc partners should speed up their seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha elections in states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Punjab where their prospects are better, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters here, he said such talks for the seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh have not started yet.

"We are a part of the INDIA alliance. We have a total of six seats including Ladakh and I do not think it will take us more than 15 minutes to take a decision on that. I want that wherever we have hopes of winning seats like in UP, WB, Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab, Delhi, TN, and Kerala, we should speed up the process of seat-sharing discussions," he said.

Abdullah said the National Conference has also not started intra-party talks on its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, due in April-May.

Asked whether he would contest the elections, he said, "I have not had the opportunity to discuss this.... Once the process of discussion starts, we will see who are the best candidates that can be fielded."

"For me, first and foremost will be that Farooq (Abdullah) contests. We will not have a situation wherein both Farooq and me will go to Parliament at the same time. Should a situation arise that Farooq steps back, then we will see what the party chooses to do, but it is not a conversation that we have had in the party yet," he said.

Omar Abdullah expressed disappointment over assembly elections not being held in the union territory.

"It is very unfortunate. We tell the world that India is the mother of democracy, but I do not know why the mother is murdered in Jammu and Kashmir. If it is the mother of democracy, then why not here," he asked.

Abdullah said if a delimitation exercise was necessary for urban local body polls, it could have been done much earlier.

"First they ended the assembly, then ULBs and now panchayats. We think conducting the parliamentary polls is their compulsion. It is unfortunate and sad that the Supreme Court had to issue directions on the assembly elections.

"The Election Commission should hang its head in shame. They should apologise to the people that a decision which has to be taken by them was taken by the SC," the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said.

To a question on some Maldivian ministers' disparaging social media posts against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Abdullah said these were wrong.

"It is its own decision which country Maldives wants to have a relationship with. But the words used by some ministers of Maldives against our prime minister were totally wrong. The words used for tourists from this country were also wrong," he said.

He said while it is alright for Maldives to have a good relationship with China, but there was no need to insult the prime minister of India or the tourists from this country.

"It is good that the Maldivian government suspended those ministers and apologised to the PM and the people, he said.

Recalling former prime minister A B Vajpayee's comments that India can change its friends but not its neighbours, the NC leader said the country should have better relations with its neighbours.

"So we hope that relations with our neighbours should always remain better," he added.