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| PDP to contest six Lok Sabha seats in J&K | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 9 - The PDP has decided to field party candidates in all the six Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir but the Congress and the National Conference, which share power in the state, have not yet decided whether the two will contest three seats each under an understanding or not.
Earlier, the PDP had plans of contesting three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir valley and one seat in the Jammu region but later it has decided to contest all the six seats. The PDP general secretary, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat, today said "we shall field party candidates in all the six constituencies”. In reply to a question he ruled out the possibility of fighting the Lok Sabha election in alliance with any political party." We will fight the poll alone,” he added.
Congress sources said that the party will field candidates in Jammu-Poonch and Kathua-Udhampur constituencies which had been won by the Congress in 2004 election. It expects the National Conference to leave one seat in the Valley for the Congress to contest. Reports from the National Conference headquarters indicate that the NC was planning to contest all the three seats in the Valley. In 2004, it had bagged two seats and the third had been won by the PDP candidate, Mehbooba Mufti. The Congress has no problem in fielding Madan Lal Sharma from Jammu Lok Sabha constituency which he had won in 2004. But the party has not yet decided whether to give the mandate to the sitting MP, Lal Singh, from Kathua-Udhampur constituency. Lal Singh had contested the recent Assembly poll from the Kathua constituency but had lost the fight. Hence the party leadership is not in favour of repeating Lal Singh. But Lal Singh is determined to fight the poll and if the Congress does not give ticket to him he may contest as an independent candidate.
As far as the BJP is concerned it has decided to contest both the two Lok sabha seats in the Jammu region. In 2004 it had lost both the seats and this time it is faced with the problem of selecting the candidates. Party sources said that till date the name of Chander Mohan Sharma for the Jammu-Poonch seat was being favoured by a number of senior party functionaries in Delhi. The only hitch in clearing his name is the opposition to his candidature from senior BJP leaders in the state. After these leaders failed to get the party mandate they have started supporting the name of a rich businessman. But Chander Mohan is likely to get the party mandate because a Brahmin candidate has better chances of winning the Jammu seat as has been witnessed in the past.
With regard to Kathua-Udhampur seat the Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti is in favour of Dr Jatindra Singh, a prominent physician, to be the candidate of all the opposition parties. However, the BJP is yet to respond to the Samiti's choice.
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