Within hours after the National Conference (NC) passed a unanimous resolution to contest all 90 Assembly without going for any pre-poll alliance, the party president and former Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah started a damage control exercise to protect the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).

The resolution of the NC passed on Wednesday, created fissures among the PADG because all its constituents have earlier announced to contest the next Assembly elections in J&K jointly to stop BJP.

The resolution posed a question over the existence of PADG, which was formed after the abrogation of Article 370.

Within minutes after NC's resolution, the spokesperson of PAGD and CPI (M) leader M Y Tarigami tried to downplay the whole development.

Gupkar Alliance
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"The amalgam is together in defence of the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir", he said.
"As and when elections are announced we will take note of it and take stock of things and accordingly the situation will be discussed," he said in a statement.

Decision on pools only after the announcement of Assembly elections: Farooq

Seeking to downplay fissuring in the PAGD after the resolution passed by his own party, Dr. Farooq Abdullah denied the speculations that there were differences that could lead to the breaking up of PAGD.

Farooq Abdullah
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Reacting to the recent statement issued by his party, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said, "The doors of the PAGD will never be shut, a decision on polls will be taken only when they will be announced, and it depends on the situation then. Statements will come, but everyone has to show patience and be ready for sacrifices".

NC hints to go alone in Assembly polls

The National Conference (NC) provincial committee members on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution to contest all 90 Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir without going for any pre-poll alliance.

"Provincial Committee members unanimously resolved that JKNC should prepare and fight all 90 seats," the party said in a statement after a meeting chaired by the party's vice president and former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah.

"The participants present in the meeting expressed dismay over the recent statements, audio jingles & speeches made by some of the constituents of the PAGD targeting JKNC. They felt that it does not contribute to the overall unity of the amalgam", the party tweeted from its official Twitter handle after the meeting.

NC, PDP formed PAGD to protect the 'special status' of J&K

With much publicity, the PAGD was formed in October 2019 by six political parties with the pledge of perseverance and steadfastness toward the restoration of Article 370.

This resolution was written in the Alliance's declaration where the political parties stated there would be "nothing about us without us," meaning they will stick together come what may.

"We want to assure people that all our political activities will be subservient to the sacred goal of reverting to the status of J&K as it existed before August 2019," read PAGD's declaration.

Within a couple of months after its formation, PAGD had received a severe jolt when Sajad Lone of Peoples' Conference, left the alliance. Lone charged both NC and PDP with fielding proxy candidates against the officially mandated candidates of the alliance during the DDC elections. He called these actions "a breach of trust".

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