Engineer Rashid accuses Omar, Lone of ganging up against him

Srinagar: Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid accused National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone of conspiring to defeat independent candidates backed by his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) in the ongoing J&K assembly elections.
“Just a few days ago, Omar was branding everyone, including Lone and Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party, as BJP’s B teams.I have irrefutable evidence that Omar and Lone have ganged up to defeat Engineer Rashid in north Kashmir and elsewhere. Can Omar tell us now which party is BJP's B team?” Rashid said Monday, while alleging that the regional parties in Kashmir had united to bring down his yet-to-be-recognised AIP.
Rashid questioned former J&K CM Omar for accepting support from a party he had criticised. “Muntazir Mohiuddin of Apni Party extended support to Omar in Budgam (where the NC vice president is contesting). According to Omar, the same Apni Party was BJP’s B team. How did he accept the support?”
Meanwhile, NC president Farooq Abdullah criticised BJP and accused PM Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath of remaining silent on the alleged gang rape of a young Dalit woman in Ayodhya, who’s part of the Ram Mandir cleaning staff.
“Isn’t she our sister? Isn’t she our daughter? They (BJP) claim to be protectors. They can’t protect anybody. They can only protect their chairs,” Abdullah said Monday.