Farooq Abdullah

Abdullah had lost to PDP candidate Tariq Hameed Karra in Srinagar in the 2014 general elections but won the 2017 bypoll to the constituency defeating Peoples Democratic Party's Nazir Ahmed Khan.

Abdullah levelled this allegation while addressing an election campaign meeting in support of the ruling Telugu Desam Party at Kadapa on Tuesday.

Abdullah levelled this allegation while campaigning for the Telugu Desam Party

Abdullah, who is seeking re-election from the constituency, was accompanied by his son and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah and other party leaders to the office of Returning Officer, Srinagar, where he filed his nomination papers.

Vikramaditya Singh, grandson of erstwhile Sadr-e-Riyast senior Congress leader Karan Singh, and former minister Raman Bhalla, who is a joint candidate of the Congress and its alliance partner NC, from Udhampur and Jammu Lok Sabha seats respectively.

The NC parliamentary board, which met here on Monday, also authorised the party president to take a final decision on any coalition with "secular forces taking into account the national political situation", according to the spokesman.

The state, which has a total of six parliamentary constituencies, goes to polls in five phases on April 11, 18, 23, 29 and May 6.

Paying tributes to Guru Nabba Dass ji at a congregation here, he underscored the crucial need of social justice and avenues of progress for all, irrespective of religion, caste and creed.

With a reduced credibility, the BJP and its ideologue will again rack up the emotive issues. The situation that we are facing today is a grim reminder of how low the communal forces can stoop to axe their own grind. The BJP, faced with pulverizing debacles in Hindi heartland, is shifting to a higher level of divisive politics,” Abdullah said here.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, National Congress chairperson Farooq Abdullah, NCP's Majeed Memon, Trinamool Congress' Derek O' Brien, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav were among those who met the TDP chief to express their support.

The Lok Sabha member from Srinagar also said governor's rule was "autocratic rule" and that his party was pressing on the present Jammu and Kashmir administration for polls in the state as soon as possible.

The national conference leader joined several leaders from the opposition parties at Jantar Mantar in the national capital where thousands of farmers from across the country have gathered to press for their demands, including debt relief and remunerative prices for their produce.

"Abdullah impressed on the governments of India and Pakistan to start a sustained dialogue process and advocated an Ireland-type settlement model to resolve the procrastinated Jammu and Kashmir issue," an NC spokesman said.

Naidu "coincidentally" also met senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here and briefly discussed about the need to bring all non-BJP political parties together, TDP sources said.

There is the vested interest that wants to crack everything, Abdullah, the Member of Parliament from Srinagar, said.

The state government last week announced the schedule for holding elections to local bodies and panchayats in the state.

Farooq Abdullah, a Lok Sabha member from the Srinagar constituency, was away in the national capital for the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The NC leader said Imran Khan's remarks deserved appreciation and were a welcome indication of a yearning for peace in Pakistan.

Earlier this week, former union minister Salman Khurshid stoked a controversy with his statement where he admitted of his party's hand stained with Muslims' blood.

Drabu, was sacked yesterday following his remark that people were "barking up the wrong tree" as the Kashmir issue was not a political issue.