National Conference ends alliance with Congress in Jammu and Kashmir

The National Conference led by Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today announced that it was breaking its alliance with Congress in the state. Abdullah tweeted on Sunday afternoon that he had met Congress President Sonia Gandhi 10 days ago and conveyed his party's decision to fight the elections alone. "I explained the reasons but also told her I wouldn't be making a public announcement because I didn't want it to look opportunistic," he tweeted, adding that, "for it to be spun now as a Cong decision is wrong & a complete distortion of the facts, not surprising but incorrect none the less."

I met the Mrs Gandhi 10 days ago & thanked her for all her support. I conveyed NC's decision to fight the elections alone 1/n

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) July 20, 2014

I explained the reasons but also told her I wouldn't be making a public announcement because I didn't want it to look opportunistic 2/n

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) July 20, 2014

For it to be spun now as a Cong decision is wrong & a complete distortion of the facts, not surprising but incorrect none the less 3/3

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) July 20, 2014

The announcement came at the back of Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad announcing today that the party would fight all 87 states alone in the state. "It is better not to depend on other parties like we did in 2002 and 2008, we contested of our own, let us contest of our own again. We don't want to run the risk in assembly election," Azad said, adding that there is no danger to the current state government as they will not pull out their support," IBNLive reported him as saying.

The decision was expected after the Congress party lost all the three seats in the Lok Sabha elections that it fought in alliance with the National Conference. Congress party workers insisted that the party fight it out alone in the next assembly elections. However, it will be a difficult task for both parties to woo their voters.