Jammu and Kashmir’s Gupkar Alliance has faced its first major jolt as the Sajad Lone-led J&K People’s Conference (JKPC) has walked out of the coalition, India Today reports.

Lone alleged in a letter to National Conference (NC) supremo Farooq Abdullah that other parties had fielded proxy candidates against JKPC in the recently held DDC polls. Apparently, the 53-year-old succumbed to insistence within his party to pull out of the alliance. Leaders of the JKPC conducted a meeting in Srinagar and decided to put an end to any electoral tie-up with the Gupkar Alliance from hereon.

“It is difficult for us to stay on and pretend as if nothing has happened. There has been a breach of trust between partners, which we believe is beyond remedy. The majoritarian view in our party is that we should pull out of the alliance in an amicable manner rather than waiting for things to get messier,” Lone wrote in the letter.

He added, “This alliance needed sacrifice. Every party had to sacrifice on the ground in terms of giving space to fellow allies. No party is willing to cede space and no party is willing to sacrifice. We fought against each other in Kashmir province, not against the perpetrators of 5 August (abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019). And those who perpetrated August 5 and their minions are now vocally gleeful.”

JKPC leaders Abdul Ghani Vakil and Imran Reza Ansari had come out in open to criticise Sajid Lone for collaborating with the NC and Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the elections.

The Gupkar Alliance was formalised in October 2020 as the coming together of regional parties from the erstwhile state to oppose Narendra Modi-led central government’s historic move to abrogate Article 370.