Sajad Lone Will be CM Face, Has Public Support, Says Rebel PDP MLA

New Delhi: The Sajjad Lone led front, with support from the BJP and rebel MLAs from the Congress, the PDP and the NC will fight elections with Sajad lone as the CM face and that it has enough public support to form government, one of the rebel PDP MLAs told News18.

Abid Ansari also said that this group had support of 48 MLAs, 5 of which are from the NC and 4 from the Congress, 25 from the bjp and 14 from the PDP.

“We were this close to forming government in the state,” Imran Ansari, one of the rebel PDP MLAs who has now joined Sajad Lone’s People Conference, told News18.

Commenting on the fast changing political scenario in J&K, Ansari said that the PDP-NC-Congress camp perhaps got a whiff of this and tried to preempt the group led by Lone. But with the governor now having dissolved the state Assembly, a decision that could be challenged in Supreme Court.

Ansari claims that most of the PDP and a few MLAs of the Congress and the NC had been willing to offer their support to Sajad Lone for a long time.

“When Mehboobaji issued the letter claiming support of her 29 MLAs, 11 of them were sitting with us,” said Ansari about a meeting he had with Lone and senior leaders of the BJP.

He says Lone’s PC had support of 48 MLAs.

“There is my uncle [Abid Ansari], four MLAs from the South, 2 MLAs from the North, some other PDP MLAs from other parts of the valley, 5 from National Conference and 4 from Congress. So with the help of BJP our strength was coming to 48.”

J&K Assembly has a strength of 87, the halfway mark is 44.

Now with the Assembly being dissolved the state is now headed for elections. But is the Sajad Lone group apprehensive about the governor’s action being challenged in the SC?

“If they have a problem, let them approach the courts. We are confident of facing elections. In fact we would very much like it to happen. The BJP is likely to sweep the Jammu region again and the public in valley is disenchanted with both the NC and the PDP,” Ansari told News18.

He added that when time for elections come, all the rebel MLAs from the other parties and the BJP will fight elections with Sajad Lone as the CM’s face.