‘Gifted BJP a Rajya Sabha Seat’: Sajad Lone Slams NC and PDP Over Cross-Voting Row

Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone on Monday launched a sharp attack on the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, accusing both parties of handing the BJP a Rajya Sabha seat through what he described as deliberate wrongdoing and political hypocrisy.

Addressing a press conference, Lone said both parties, who routinely label others as BJP-aligned, had themselves helped the party win a Rajya Sabha seat through cross-voting.

He alleged that the PDP had acted with malafide intent by not appointing an authorised agent to verify whom its MLAs voted for during the Rajya Sabha polls, effectively allowing its legislators to vote as they wished without any accountability.

"The job of the agent is to verify whom the MLAs voted for. The RTI revealed that the PDP had not appointed any agent. As a result, all three members voted as per their wishes because there was no one to check the vote," Lone said.

He also took a dig at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, questioning how a sitting Chief Minister could claim to have learned about the PDP's failure to appoint an agent only through an RTI application.

"Omar Abdullah is saying that he came to know through RTI that the PDP didn't appoint an agent, and that proves the PDP voted for the BJP. Is it true that a sitting CM came to know through RTI that the PDP didn't appoint an agent?" he asked.

Lone alleged that both parties were now trying to divert attention from the cross-voting controversy rather than addressing it directly.