Former MLA and BJP leader Devendra Singh Rana has claimed that National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah was ready to form a coalition government with the saffron party in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014. Devendra Singh Rana was a part of the National Conference party before the BJP. In October last year, he joined the BJP along with former minister SS Salathia. Devendra’s remark is also significant as it is in stark contrast to the statement of NC Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. He had cautioned PDP patriarch Mufti Mohammad Sayeed against forming the government with the BJP in 2014, saying it would be a “disaster”.
Devendra Rana while addressing a public meeting in Doda district said, “After the hung mandate in the 2014 assembly elections, I was sent to Delhi by my then leadership as the leader of a delegation to help the BJP form the government with the National Conference. We were ready to form a coalition government with saffron.”
Rana took over as the provincial president of the National Conference in 2011 after leaving his position as Omar’s political advisor. He said that the PDP fought the assembly elections to keep the BJP out of power but later formed a coalition government with the same party.
Significantly, in the 2014 assembly elections, PDP won 28 seats, BJP 25, NC 15 and Congress 12.