Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has distanced himself from the Congress’s “vote chori” campaign, making it clear that the issue does not reflect the position of the Opposition INDIA bloc as a whole.

Speaking on Monday, Abdullah said the campaign launched by the Congress was its own political call.

“The INDIA bloc has got nothing to do with it. Every political party is at liberty to set its own agenda. The Congress has made ‘vote chori’ and SIR as its main issues. Who are we to tell them otherwise?” he said.

Abdullah’s remarks came a day after senior Congress leaders trained their guns on the BJP and the Election Commission at a ‘Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod’ rally in New Delhi.

At the rally, Congress leaders alleged that “vote chori” was in the ruling party’s DNA and accused its leaders of being “gaddar” who were conspiring to take away people’s voting rights and should be removed from power.

The clarification from Abdullah is notable because his National Conference is a constituent of the INDIA bloc, a coalition of Opposition parties formed to take on the BJP at the national level.

Within the bloc, the Congress remains the largest party in terms of Opposition strength in the Lok Sabha.

When asked directly about the allegations of electoral irregularities being raised by the Congress, Abdullah underlined the coalition’s loose structure and the autonomy of its members.

His response suggested there had been no collective decision within the bloc to adopt the “vote chori” plank as a shared political issue. The Congress, for its part, has doubled down on the campaign.

The party has claimed it has collected around six crore signatures against what it calls “vote theft” and plans to submit them to the President of India.