Bilal Lone may contest Assembly elections

Srinagar, October 26

Senior separatist leader Bilal Lone has been holding public meetings in Kupwara district, triggering speculation that he may contest the upcoming Assembly elections. Pictures of Lone meeting his workers have gone viral, with some of his workers saying, “Bilal Lone will be our next MLA.”

Lone is the only separatist leader who has been allowed to hold public meetings while the majority of his colleagues are in jail.

Lone is the chairman of a faction of the People’s Conference which is a constituent of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. He is the elder brother of Sajjad Lone, chairman of the People’s Conference. Their father was a three-time MLA before joining the separatist ranks.

Sources say he will quit the Hurriyat Conference and contest all six Assembly segments of Kupwara, which is a stronghold of the People’s Conference. However, Lone denied joining mainstream politics.

After Sajjad Lone quit the separatist camp, Bilal’s will be the second major shift of any Hurriyat leader to the pro-India mainstream politics.

BJP’s senior leader and former minister Sunil Sharma, at an event on the Accession Day, said Hurriyat leaders and separatists “would join the mainstream as they know all doors have been closed for them and they know their place is only in jail”.