Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRI NAGAR: A month after staking claim to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), separatist-turned-mainstream politician and former minister Sajjad Gani Lone’s Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (PC) on Tuesday said its alliance with the saffron party has ended and the party would contest all 87 seats in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

“Sajjad Lone’s alliance with the BJP has ended and at present, the PC does not have any alliance with any party...” party leader Abid Ansari said.

He said Sajjad had joined hands with the BJP after the last assembly elections and was part of their ministry but now, the PC doesn’t have any alliance. The PC had won two seats in the 87-member J&K Assembly in the last elections and Lone was a minister in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-BJP coalition government for three years.

Lone had forged pre-poll alliance with the BJP before the 2014 Assembly polls after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We will be contesting all 87 Assembly seats in Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh in forthcoming Assembly polls. We will not enter into any pre-poll alliance with any party, whether regional or national,” said Ansari, who was a former MLA with the PDP and joined the PC last month, said.

Ansari’s nephew Imran Ansari, who was a minister in the PDP-BJP government, has also joined the PC.

Both Ansari and his nephew Imran are influential Shia leaders and wield influence in some seats in north and central Kashmir.