STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: The BJP’s victory in the assembly polls in three states is not the defeat of the INDIA bloc as the opposition parties did not contest the polls together, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday.
The BJP swept Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh on Sunday inflicting a resounding defeat on the Congress to tighten its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland.
“INDI alliance didn’t fail, the Congress was unsuccessful in this election and it knows the reasons better,” Abdullah told reporters after paying tributes to his grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on his 118th birth anniversary.
“These elections were not contested as an alliance. They were fought separately by the parties. There were candidates from the Congress, SP, AAP, and others. So, I don’t consider it as a defeat of the INDI alliance because we didn’t contest as an alliance,” Abdullah said.
The NC vice president, whose party is part of the INDIA bloc, said the alliance will now have to assess the damage done by the statements given by some alliance members against one another during the elections.
Asked about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks that she has not received an invitation for the Wednesday’s meeting of the alliance, Abdullah said he can’t speak on behalf of the TMC chief while asserting that his party will be in attendance.
“I can’t speak for Mamata ji… I can only speak for the NC and the NC has received an invitation for dinner at the residence of the Congress president tomorrow. Now, if this meeting takes place, then certainly, we will attend. If, for some reason, it is postponed, then we will see what happens going ahead,” he said.
Abdullah also asked the Congress to focus on the general elections next year.
“Elections are like that, you win some, you lose some. You can’t only be satisfied with the elections you win, you must also be ready to accept defeat. Now, if the Congress has lost… it must analyse the reasons,” he said.
Abdullah also expressed grief over the accident in Shimla in which six labourers from Jammu and Kashmir were killed.
