Will abstain from voting in Rajya Sabha elections: Sajad Lone

Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference president and MLA Sajad Lone on Tuesday (October 14, 2025) mentioned his celebration would abstain from voting within the coming Rajya Sabha elections on October 24.

“I’d somewhat die than vote for the National Conference [NC]. Stop dictating to us who we should always vote for and who we should always not. You can not label us. You should not Yuvraj,” Mr. Lone mentioned. 

Referring to NC vice-president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s remarks that abstaining meant voting for the BJP, Mr. Lone mentioned, “Today you [Mr. Abdullah] are within the dock. You need to show to the folks that you just didn’t deny a Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress on the BJP’s orders. Prove to the folks that you’re not sitting within the BJP lap.”

Rejecting claims that abstention indicators help for the BJP, Mr. Lone mentioned he wouldn’t be shocked if Mr. Abdullah accused the Congress of getting a pact with the BJP. “Your [Mr. Abdullah] sense of entitlement is synonymous with lunacy,” he mentioned.

Mr. Lone accused Mr. Abdullah of cosying as much as the BJP. “Do you count on our vote since you gifted crores of shawls to BJP leaders? Because you might be nonstop partying with them in Delhi? Or is it since you have been the primary to provide them a good election certificates? Or ought to we help you since you have been caught red-handed strolling hand in hand with the writer of the draconian waqf invoice, Mr. Kiren Rijiju, in Tulip Garden?” he mentioned.

The JKPC has one seat within the 88-member Assembly. Mr. Lone mentioned the NC was appearing as “the BJP’s proxy in Jammu and Kashmir”. “You take orders from them, deny seats to different events, and nonetheless accuse others of being aligned with the BJP. You have sacrificed everybody for them and received by lies and deceit,” he added.

Contrasting the NC with the Congress, Mr. Lone mentioned, “The Congress has constantly stood in opposition to the BJP and is the one nationwide celebration able to restoring statehood. Yet you humiliate them. I’ve personally assured help to many Congress leaders. For the NC, nevertheless, we are going to by no means vote.”

Mr. Lone questioned the NC authorities’s legacy. “You travelled the world as Foreign Minister of the then BJP authorities, justifying killings in Kashmir. The folks voted for a pacesetter, what they obtained was an errand boy for BJP. You have introduced disrepute to the establishment of Chief Minister. It will take a decade to revive this establishment to its former glory,” Mr. Lone mentioned.