Srinagar: The National Conference got a timely boost on Friday during Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajya Sabha elections when Sheikh Khursheed, the lone MLA from the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), declared he would back the ruling party “to keep the BJP out.”
Khursheed, who represents Langate in Kupwara district, told reporters that his party has chosen to vote for the NC candidates as polling for the Union Territory’s four Rajya Sabha seats began at the Assembly complex.
“We have decided to vote against the BJP, and in favour of the NC candidates,” he said.
The AIP MLA is the brother of jailed Baramulla MP Sheikh Abdula Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid. Khursheed acknowledged significant political differences with the NC but said the current circumstances left his party no choice but to support the ruling party.
“We submitted several resolutions and bills in the last Assembly session and in this one too, but those were not accepted. Still, given the present situation, we are compelled to vote for the NC to keep the BJP out. This is not out of affection for the NC, but to prevent the BJP from winning,” he added.
Khursheed insisted that if his party had abstained, it would have benefited the BJP. “We are not worried about the NC’s loss; our objective is to keep the BJP away, and we want them to lose the fourth seat as well,” he said.
