Will Sajjad Lone Factor Sink Or Swim In Assembly Polls ? (image: facebook.com/MLAHandwara)

The final phase of Assembly elections holds special significance for Sajjad Lone, chairman of the People’s Conference (PC), since a comeback after the Lok Sabha poll debacle is pertinent to solidify his position as one of the tall leaders in the valley.

Sajjad Gani Lone, is the first one to quit from the separatist spectrum to mainstream politics in 2004. Lone is the youngest son of Kashmiri separatist leader Abdul Ghani Lone, founder-president of the People’s Conference and a senior leader in the all-party Hurriyat Conference. In May 2002, Abdul Lone was assassinated by militants at a gathering in Srinagar.

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His father’s death prompted a shift in Lone, a move away from separatism. Though he continued to associate with the Hurriyat Conference, he was accused by separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani of contesting proxy candidates in the 2002 Assembly polls. This resulted in a vertical split in the separatist union.

In February 2004, he took over the leadership of the People’s Conference.

In protest over the Amarnath land row agitation, he boycotted the Assembly elections in 2008. However, in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Lone contested as an independent candidate from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat but was defeated by the National Conference (NC) candidate Sharifuddin Shariq. Though he did not contest in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Lone fielded a candidate from the north Kashmir constituency but lost.

In the 2014 Assembly election, Sajjad contested from Handwara constituency and defeated NC’s Chowdhary Mohamad Ramzan by a margin of 5423 votes. His was one of the two assembly seats won by the People’s Conference, and then he became a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government.

When the BJP withdrew support for the PDP and resulted in the dissolution of the coalition government in 2018, Lone attempted to form government in Jammu and Kashmir. However, his claim was denied by then-Governor SP Malik, who dissolved the state assembly even before he could prove that he had required numerical strength. Ahead of the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre arrested Lone in August 2019 and released him only a year later, in July 2020.

Lone is a staunch advocate of the restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and a critic of the abrogation of Article 370. The People’s Conference poll manifesto pledges fights on this ground.

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In the Lok Sabha polls held early this year, Lone contested from Baramulla constituency, and pitted against former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. However, defeating both, Awami Ittehad Party (AIP)’s Engineer Rashid emerged as the as the winner.

In the current polls, Lone is pushing a twin constituency bid. He is contesting from the Handwara and Kupwara assembly constituencies. Handwara holds preference as a party bastion and as a seat, alluding to his family legacy. Meanwhile, his decision to contest from Kupwara is viewed as a bold step by political experts since parts of the assembly segments of Kupwara are not viewed as a safe bet for the People’s Conference.

Lone who is facing allegation of ‘BJP proxy’, the current assembly polls holds greater importance.