Congress leader defies party, files nomination papers against Omar Abdullah

Defying party, the Congress district president in J&K's Ganderbal filed nomination papers as an independent candidate from the Ganderbal Assembly constituency against National Conference (NC) Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday.

Congress Ganderbal district president Sahil Farooq - accompanied by dozens of young supporters - said that the interests of the Ganderbal district have always been sacrificed to accommodate outsiders.

"Candidates are air-dropped to represent the people of Ganderbal, but the youth of this constituency have now decided not to hand over their political destiny to the outsider," Sahil said.

The decision to stand against Omar Abdullah defies the pre-poll alliance between the NC and the Congress.

As per the seat-sharing arrangement, the NC will fight 52 and Congress 31 seats in the ensuing Assembly elections in J&K.

Two seats, one each in the Jammu division and the Valley have been left by both parties for Panthers Party and the CPI-M.

The two alliance partners could not reach any agreement on five seats of Nagrota, Doda, Bhaderwah and Banihal in the Jammu division and Sopore in the Valley.

 Both NC and Congress will field candidates on these seats to enter into a 'friendly contest'.

The defiance of Sahil Farooq could affect the dynamics of the pre-poll alliance between the two parties.

If Sahil becomes a one-off case, then the alliance can be protected by Congress initiating disciplinary action against him.

But, if the defiance is repeated by either the NC or Congress cadre during the days to come, then that would create problems for the two parties.

(With inputs from IANS)