Despite being reduced to four-party grouping, Gupkar alliance still a formidable political force in J&K
The Hindu
NC president Farooq Abdullah said the alliance “will contest the Assembly elections together”.
The exit of the J&K Peoples Movement (JKPM) has reduced the People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of parties fighting for the restoration of the pre-August 5, 2019 position of Jammu and Kashmir, to a four-party grouping.
However, with the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) formalising an electoral alliance for the first ever Assembly polls in the Union Territory (UT), it will be a formidable political force to take on the BJP.
JKPM president Ghulam Mustafa quit the Gupkar alliance on Sunday. “The alliance is a mere electoral alliance of two traditional political parties to safeguard their political interests. It doesn’t have any road map or any clear cut plans to lead people out of uncertainties,” a JKPM spokesman said.
Seven political parties were associated with the grouping on August 4, 2019, a day ahead of the reading down of Article 370. Later, the Congress and the Sajad Lone-headed J&K Peoples Conference quit the amalgamation.
The Congress dissociated itself from the alliance immediately after statements made by the leaders of the NC and the PDP on Article 370 in 2019 made the party’s position uncomfortable outside J&K and was said to have a negative impact on the poll campaigns of the party then.
In 2021, Mr. Lone’s exit came as a major jolt for the alliance because he quit immediately after it won the highest 110 segments in the first-ever District Development Council polls. Mr. Lone accused the NC and the PDP of fielding proxy candidates during the DDC polls despite a poll alliance.
Besides the NC and the PDP, the two other parties in the alliance now are the CPI(M) and the Awani National Conference (ANC) led by Muzaffar Shah. NC president Farooq Abdullah on Monday said the alliance “will contest the elections together”. The announcement was welcomed by the PDP.