NC MLAs backed BJP in Rajya Sabha polls: Altaf Thakur

Srinagar, Apr 28: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jammu and Kashmir chief spokesperson Altaf Thakur on Tuesday said that legislators from the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, and not the Peoples Democratic Party, had supported the BJP during the Rajya Sabha elections.
Thakur’s remarks came after the Assembly Secretariat, in its RTI reply, stated that the PDP had not duped any polling agent during the Rajya Sabha voting process.
He said the BJP candidate Sat Sharma was nominated and ultimately elected with the backing of NC legislators. “It was the National Conference that ensured the victory of BJP, not the PDP,” Thakur said.
The BJP spokesperson rejected the possibility of PDP extending support to his party, asserting that the two parties have “completely different ideologies.” He said the PDP and BJP stand at opposite ends of the political spectrum.
“PDP could not have supported BJP under any circumstances,” he said, adding that the party did not even have a candidate in the contest. He also claimed that certain MLAs within the National Conference were dissatisfied, alleging that commitments made in the party’s manifesto had not been fulfilled.
Thakur further sharpened his criticism by accusing the PDP of following an ideology contrary to that of the BJP. “The ideology of BJP is nation-first, while PDP’s thinking is entirely different,” he said. [KNT]