Amid intense electioneering, the former key aide of Omar Abdullah and BJP candidate for the Nagrota Assembly segment Devender Singh Rana revealed that the National Conference leadership was ready to form a coalition government with the Saffron Party after the 2014 elections.
Rana, the former political advisor to Omar Abdullah when he was Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, further disclosed that the NC was ready to even accept a BJP chief minister.
Rana gave this statement a day after Omar Abdullah vice president of the National Conference pointed out that the People's Democratic Party (PDP) maintained a close relationship with the national general secretary of BJP Ram Madhav. He further said that the BJP may have sent him to facilitate collaboration ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
He recalled that Ram Madhav, who was recently named by the party as the election in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir, was instrumental in forging the PDP-BJP alliance in 2014 and speculated that he might have been sent again for a similar purpose.
"Omar-led NC delegation met with top BJP leadership"
Rana further disclosed that an NC delegation, led by Omar Abdullah, met with top BJP ministers in Delhi to request an alliance after the 2014 Assembly polls, but the same was rejected.
Rana claimed that Omar Abdullah and his team were willing to accept a BJP chief minister in J&K, but the offer was declined by BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He also criticized Omar for his recent statements, accusing him of hypocrisy and forgetting his own history with the BJP.
"Omar even knocked on RSS's doors to alliance with BJP"
Rana said that in 2014, when NC had 15 MLAs, Omar went to Delhi and met senior leaders of the BJP and also knocked on the doors of RSS leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah and the then J&K Incharge, Ram Madhav, and offered unconditional support to the BJP for forming government in J&K". Omar also agreed to a full-term Chief Minister of the BJP in J&K, Rana said.
"I also accompanied Omar that time and he (Omar) offered on the table unconditional support to the BJP for forming government in J&K and also even extended unconditional support for a full term Chief Minister of the BJP in J&K," Rana said.
"NC wanted to be in power in J&K at any cost," Rana said, while adding that after the death of former Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Omar Abdullah again started approaching top BJP and RSS leader at Delhi.
"Farooq Abdullah was at Katra at that time and told Omar Abdullah to meet BJP and RSS leaders at Delhi and offer unconditional support to BJP for forming government in J&K," Rana said, adding, "The BJP rejected NC's offer at that time also."
Rana further accused the NC of attempting to revive stone pelting by promising to release "stone pelters". He emphasized that the BJP would not allow a return to the violent days of 2008 and 2010.
Rana made similar disclosures in February this year
BJP leader Devender Singh Rana, the former close aide of Omar Abdullah, earlier disclosed in February this year the National Conference leadership was desperate to develop relations with the ruling BJP. Rana further revealed that even after the abrogation of Article 370, the NC leadership tried to reach out to the Saffron Party.
"NC was part of the NDA during the regime of Atal Behari Vajpayee and in 2014 also the NC made a very vehement effort to form the government with the BJP", Rana disclosed.
"It was not Dr. Farooq Abdullah but Omar Abdullah himself who led the talks with the BJP leadership to form the government in 2014", Rana disclosed and added that senior Abdullah was in London then.
Devendra Singh Rana said that he was privy to the attempts of the National Conference to reach out to the BJP.
Omar alleges BJP-PDP collaboration ahead of Assembly elections
On Monday, Omar Abdullah alleged that the BJP may have sent Ram Madhav to facilitate collaboration with the PDP ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
He made these remarks while accompanying the party's candidate for the Kangan constituency, Mian Mehar Ali, as he filed his nomination papers.
Omar alleged that the PDP maintains a close relationship with Ram Madhav, who was instrumental in forging the PDP-BJP alliance in 2014. He speculated that Madhav might have been sent again for a similar purpose.
