After Congress declined to contest the Nagrota seat, the National Conference on Monday announced District Development Council member Shamim Begum as its candidate for the constituency.
NC’s Provincial President for Jammu, Rattan Lal Gupta, said the party decided to nominate Shamim Begum following Congress’s decision not to field a candidate. “The party high command has approved her name, and she will be filing her nomination papers,” he added, according to news agency KNO.
A Muslim Gujjar woman, Shamim Begum, had won the 2020 District Development Council elections from Nagrota.
Amid growing tensions between the ruling alliance partners in Jammu & Kashmir, Congress on Monday declined National Conference’s offer to contest the Nagrota seat, opting to leave it to its ally to strengthen efforts against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In a late-night decision, Congress said it chose not to field a candidate “keeping in view the larger interests and the goal of defeating the BJP.”
“After detailed deliberations over the report of the Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee and considering various factors – including that in the 2024 Assembly elections, where Congress and NC contested on a friendly basis, the National Conference had secured second position in this constituency – the INC central leadership has decided to leave the seat to its ally, the National Conference, in furtherance of the coalition’s broader goals to defeat the BJP,” the party said.
The relationship between the National Conference and Congress has been strained after NC refused to offer Congress a safe seat in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for October 24.
NC had offered Congress the fourth, relatively riskier seat, which the party chose not to contest.
Congress leadership in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in New Delhi, expressed displeasure over NC’s “reneging” on its commitment to provide a safe seat in the Rajya Sabha polls.
