Jammu and Kashmir: Omar Abdullah says PDP only party with which Ram Madhav has strong ties

National Conference vice president, Omar Abdullah hinted on September 2 that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was perhaps again in touch with People's Democratic Party (PDP) through RSS leader and former party general secretary, Ram Madhav.

The Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP is the only party in the poll bound Jammu and Kashmir which has good connections with Madhav, said Abdullah, the former chief minister of erstwhile state.

“There is no doubt in the fact that if there is any party that has good connections with Ram Madhav, it is the PDP. He was the man behind the 2015 BJP-PDP alliance. He is perhaps been brought again for the same purpose” Abdullah said while talking to reporters in Kangan area of Ganderbal district after party MP Mian Altaf’s son Mian Mehar Ali filed his nomination papers from the seat.

Madhav, who has been appointed as election in-charge for the upcoming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, is credited for the 2015 alliance between the BJP and PDP.

When asked if there be a BJP-PDP alliance again, Omar said, “Let them get the seats first.”

Voting is being held in three phases with first round on September 18. The next two phases will be held on September 25 and October 1. The results will be announced on October 4. The NC and PDP, both part of opposition's national alliance, INDIA bloc, are rivals in Jammu and Kashmir.

In the 2014 Assembly polls, the PDP emerged as the single-largest party with 28 seats. All seats that PDP won came from Kashmir valley. The BJP finished second with 25 seats. All seats that the BJP won came from Jammu.

The PDP, then led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, decided to tie up with the BJP in an unheard-of alliance between the two parties with ideologies poles apart. The alliance, however, fell apart with BJP pulling out in 2018. Since then Jammu and Kashmir has been under central rule.