KL Report
SRINAGAR
Congress-NC Coalition candidate for Baramulla Lok Sabha seat Sharief-ud-din Shariq Monday stated that the Congress in North Kashmir has a ‘limited’ vote bank and that the Congress candidates supporting him are doing good to themselves only.
Talking to KNS, Shariq said the Congress has no strong footing in North Kashmir and the same is an established fact also admitted by the political experts. However, he expressed optimism that Congress will support him on May 7.
Training his guns against PDP’s candidate Muzaffar Husain Beigh, Shariq accused him of distribution of posters against National Conference by using the name of the militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. “Yes, it is Beigh who is doing all this. He gets the posters affixed on the walls in many areas in Baramulla constituency through his men and tries to give an impression that these posters have been issued by Hizbul Mujahideen.”
Shariq also admitted that there is an atmosphere of fear and panic in some areas of North Kashmir due to the presence of militants in those areas. “We are asking people to overcome that fear and come out in open on the day of poling.” He added further that the agriculture minister Ghulam Hassan Mir is working hard to transfer his votes in NC’s favor. He stated that Mir has been holding rallies in his constituency from the last so many days and trying to make NC win possible in North Kashmir.
“I can’t say that the Congress men are working for NC and the vice-versa. It is being done as the preparations for the assembly elections scheduled to be held by the end of this year. The strength of all the candidates will be testified during this election only.” Shariq also claimed that he will emerge victorious this time with more votes than that of the previous ones. He added that earlier the margin was 60,000 votes and this time it would be around 90 plus. On being asked whether the presence of so many candidates in the constituency will have a direct affect on NC’s vote bank, Shariq maintained that the scene is similar to 2009 and that the same will not damage NC in general. “Too many candidates could cut the votes against each other. As far as NC is concerned, its voter is a committed one.”
