Sajad Lone slams PDP, NC over “gifting” Rajya Sabha seat to BJP

Srinagar, May 11: Peoples Conference president Sajad Lone on Sunday came down heavily on both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC) over cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls held in 2025, alleging they staged a “fixed match” to help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win a seat. Lone also termed the outsourcing of government jobs by the NC-led government as “front-door loot,” while accusing Mehbooba Mufti of confusing people over the issue and giving the ruling party an escape route.
Addressing a news conference here, Lone slammed the PDP over the non-appointment of an authorized agent during the RS polls.
“We believe that the PDP had malafide intentions. They intended to do something wrong, which is why they did not appoint an agent,” he said.
The PC president questioned Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on whether he was unaware of the PDP’s failure to appoint an authorized agent.
“Is it true that a sitting chief minister came to know from the RTI that the PDP had not kept an agent?” he asked.
Slamming both PDP and NC, Lone said the parties that shouted the loudest against the BJP ultimately gifted it a seat.
“One did not keep an agent, the other did not object. And even today, there are diversion tactics. They are diverting,” Lone said.
He alleged that both PDP and NC had a tie-up with the BJP in the RS polls.
“The reason they did not appoint an agent is because they had a tie-up with the BJP. And the reason NC did not raise the issue is because they also had a tie-up,” he said.
The PC president termed the outsourcing of government jobs by the government as “one lakh times worse” than backdoor appointments, calling it “front-door stealing.”
“I had asked a question in the J&K Assembly: how many government jobs have you outsourced? The answer came, and they provided all of them separately. I tallied it, and found that about 22000 to 24000 people have jobs outsourced. These companies received about Rs 1000 crores,” he said.
Lone described outsourcing of jobs as a “den of corruption” and “poison for society.” Referring to former CM Mehbooba Mufti’s claim of 30000 backdoor appointments, he said: “If you don’t know, call and ask. Don’t confuse people. This is not backdoor, this is stealing from the front door.”
He accused Mehbooba Mufti of giving the ruling party an escape route by framing the issue as backdoor appointments.
On the liquor ban row, Lone called it “drama” by both NC and PDP. “When NC was in opposition, they brought a bill to ban alcohol. PDP said no. When PDP came to power, NC brought the bill. Both issue permits when in power,” he said.
He added that none of them bans liquor when they are in power. “When they are in power, none of them bans it. When they are out of power, you see whether it is PDP’s government or this government, how many permits they issued,” Lone said. (KNO)